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EFFICIENCY 


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EFFICIENCY 


PRACTICAL  LESSONS  IN 

Life  Insurance  Salesmanship 


•  •  •  J  • . 


BY 

FORBES  LINDSAY 

Assistant  Manager  of  the  Home  Office  General  Agency, 

Pacific  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company 

of  California 


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PREFACE 


The  chapters  composing  this  text-book  are  greatly 
curtailed  summaries  of  lectures  delivered  by  the  author 
to  the  city  agents  of  the  Home  Office  General  Agency 
of  The  Pacific  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Cali- 
fornia. It  is  believed  that  they  will  be  found  useful  to 
managers  and  superintendents  of  agencies  as  the  basis 
for  similar  oral  instruction. 

The  writer  has  gained  several  valuable  suggestions 
from  a  clever  series  of  pamphlets,  entitled  "The  Knack 
of  Selling",  issued  by  the  publishers  of  "System". 

F.  L. 

Los  Angeles,  Jan.  1,  1914. 


Digitized  by  tine  internet  Arclnive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.archive.org/details/efficiencypractiOOforbrich 


EFFICIENCY  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of 
Success.  Efficiency  is  fitness:  it  entails  the 
ability  to  do  things  and  to  do  them  rightly. 

There  is  a  Hindi  proverb  which  runs:  "The 
road  is  paved  with  leather  for  the  man  whose 
feet  are  shod".  In  other  words,  Adaptation  is 
the  key  to  Facility.  The  man  who  has  quali- 
fied himself  for  his  work  will  find  conditions 
favorable  to  success. 

The  untrained  life  insurance  salesman  is 
constantly  encountering  difficulties  due  to  his 
inefficiency.  His  energy  is  more  or  less  mis- 
directed. His  processes  are  largely  haphazard 
and  hampered  by  the  friction  of  accident.  In 
a  word,  he  is  Unfit  and,  consequently,  Ineffect- 
ive. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ESSENTIAL   ATTITUDE. 

Self  Assurance — Honest  Dealing — Earnest  Attitude — Preparation — 
Scientific  Salesmanship. 

CHAPTER  II. 
ELEMENTS   OF   LIFE   INSURANCE. 
Participating  and   Non-partici'pating   Insurance — Forms   of   Life   In- 
surance— The    Premium    and    its    Constituent    Parts — Methods    of 
Using  Dividends. 

CHAPTER  IIL 
SECURING  AND  APPROACHING  PROSPECTS. 
Preparation  for  the  Approach — Meeting  the  Prospect — Overcoming 
Obstacles   to   Interviews. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PRESENTING  THE  POLICY. 

Divi'sions  of  the  Policy  Statement — Logical  Sequence  in  Presenta- 
tion— Discriminating  in  Selection  of  Forms — Motives  that  Move 
Men  to  Insure. 

CHAPTER  V. 

PREPARING  THE  CANVASS. 

Scientific  Method  of  Preparation — Mode  of  Setting  Forth  Data — 
Specimen  Illustration  of  Monthly  Income  Proposi'tion — Memo- 
randa of  Arguments — Verbatim  Specimen  Canvass — Explanation 
of  the  Design  and  Purposes  of  the  Method. 

CHAPTER  VL 
CLOSING. 

Essentials  to  Success  in  Closing — Keeping  Control  of  the  Inter- 
view— Closing  at  the  Earliest  Opportunity — The  Consecutive 
Stages  of  the  Qosing  Effort — Methods  of  Influencing  the  Pros- 
pect. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

STANDARD  FORMS  OF  INSURANCE. 

Term  Insurance — Life  Policies — The  Monthly  Income  Policy — The 
Endowment  Policy — Explanations  of  Various  Forms  and  Illus- 
trations of  Peculiar  Advantages. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
COMMERCIAL  LIFE  INSURANCE. 
Purpose   of   Business   Insurance — Business   Insurance   for  the   Corp- 
oration— Business    Insurance    for   the    Firm — Joint    Insurance    for 


Commercial    Purposes — Specializing    in    Commercial    Life    Insur- 
ance. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
MATERIAL  AID  TO  EFFICIENCY. 
The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Illustrations  and  Printed  Matter  in  General 
— The  Advantage  of  Making  Statements  in  Percentages — Prospect 
Cards  and  other  Memoranda — A  Valuable  Time-keeper  and  Check 
on  Results — Systematic  Record  Card — A  Method  for  Detecting 
Weakness  and  Strong  Points — The  Detective  Card. 

CHAPTER  X. 
GENERAL  SUGGESTIONS. 
Systematic    Work — Securing    Cash    with    Application — Tlie    Psycho- 
logical Moment — Extra  Issues — Making  it  Easy  for  the  Prospect 
— Cultivating    Policyholders — Warning    Against    Underestimating 
the  Prospect. 


EFFICIENCY 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  ESSENTIAL  ATTITUDE. 

Although  the  writer  is  not  without  hope  that  this 
little  volume  may  be  of  some  service  to  experienced 
Life  Insurance  agents,  it  is  intended  primarily  for  the 
use  of  beginners.  To  the  latter  this  prefatory  advice 
is  especially  addressed. 

The  spirit  that  actuates  you  in  an  undertaking  is  of 
vital  importance.  Your  success  or  failure  may  depend 
entirely  upon  it. 

What  is  your  attitude  toward  the  Life  Insurance 
business?  Are  you  treating  it  as  a  convenience  or  a 
make-shift?  If  so,  your  chances  of  success  are  slim 
indeed.  Have  you  taken  up  the  work  as  an  experiment, 
or  on  trial?  In  that  case  you  are  handicapping  your- 
self heavily.  The  doubt  in  your  mind  is  acting  as  a 
brake  on  your  progress. 

If  you  would  give  yourself  a  fair  chance  to  "make 
good",  you  must  set  out  with  determination  never  to 
turn  back.  You  must  bring  wholehearted  devotion  to 
your  work.  You  must  be  moved  by  a  singleness  of 
purpose — by  the  idea  of  directing  all  your  energy  and 
faculties  upon  your  business. 

When  you  have  honestly  attained  this  phase  of 
mental  attitude  you  are  already  a  considerable  distance 
along  the  road  to  Success. 

PRIDE  IN  YOUR  PROFESSION. 

In  these  days.  Life  Insurance  is  such  a  highly  spec- 
ialized business  that  it  justly  ranks  with  the  profes- 
sions. Yale,  Harvard,  and  half  a  dozen  other  universi- 
ties maintain  courses  in  Life  Insurance. 

9 


Not  a*  tew  of  the  mont  brtlliant  and  able  men  in  this 
coui)try  are  engaged  in  the  same  calling  as  yourself. 
Yo?i  may  Weir  be  proud  to  claim  it  as  your  vocation. 
But,  do  not  disgrace  it  and  yourself  by  poor  workman- 
ship. 

Closely  akin  to  Pride  in  your  Profession  is  Faith  in 
your  Company.  "The  best  company'*  is  a  relative  term 
in  Life  Insurance. 

Your  company  must  be  the  best  for  you.  If  there 
is  any  better  you  should  be  working  for  it. 

Satisfaction  with  your  calling  and  belief  in  your 
company  will  promote  your  Efficiency  and,  at  the  same 
time,  excite  the  Respect  of  your  acquaintances. 

SELF-ASSURANCE. 

Believe  in  yourself.  Count  on  Success.  Every  vic- 
tory is  won  in  the  imagination  before  the  battle  begins. 
The  man  who  doubts  is  defeated  ere  he  faces  the  issuer 

You  don't  know  what  you  can  do  until  you  try.  The 
outcome  of  a  determined  effort  will  surprise  you.  Aim 
at  big  things.  What  if  you  fail  at  the  first  attempt? 
Go  to  it  again.  The  man  who  can  come  back  smiling 
is  the  most  formidable  force  in  the  world. 

HONESTY  IN  YOUR  DEALINGS. 

Be  square.  Start  out  with  a  firm  resolution  to  make 
Honesty  control  your  thoughts  and  acts. 

Never  fool  yourself.  Be  a  severe  critic  in  Self-Exam- 
iiiation.     Be  an  exacting  task  master  in  Self-Discipline. 

Remember  your  obligation  to  your  company  and  your 
duty  to  your  manager.  From  these  sources  you  are 
receiving  assistance,  without  which  you  could  not  carry 
on  your  business.  An  investment  has  been  made  in  you, 
indicating  Faith  in  your  Integrity  and  Ability.  Don't 
betray  the  Trust. 

The  adage  "Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  is  strikingly 
applicable  to  the  business  of  Life  Insurance.  If  you 
are  permanently  engaged  in  it,  the  best  asset  that  you 
can  create  is  a  Reputation  for  Honest  Dealing.  It  will 
act   as   a   sinking   fund,    steadily   earning   interest,   and 

10 


affording  you   a   perpetual   source    to    draw   upon    for 
new  business. 

In  considering  a  contract  for  a  prospect,  banish  all 
calculation  of  commission.  Base  your  recommendation 
on  sincere  judgment  of  his  best  interests.  Every  policy 
properly  placed  will  put  a  permanent  support  under 
your  structure  of  Success. 

THE  EARNEST  ATTITUDE. 

I  have  made  no  mention  of  Enthusiasm.  It  is  apt  to 
be  fleeting  and  ill-balanced.  Earnestness  is  a  more 
serviceable  quality. 

Enthusiasm  is  the  smoke  and  report  of  a  musketry 
discharge.  Earnestness  is  the  bullet.  Both  emanate 
from  the  same  source,  but  one  represents  emotion:  the 
other  force.  Enthusiasm  is  less  substantial,  less  dura- 
ble than  Earnestness.  The  former  may  excite  a  pros- 
pect's interest,  the  latter  will  secure  his  signature. 

In  order  to  produce  good  results,  you  must  have  an 
Earnest  Interest  in  your  work.  In  order  to  have  and 
to  hold  Interest,  you  must  understand  your  business 
and  be  conscious  of  a  certain  degree  of  expertness  in 
it.  And  nothing  can  keep  your  Interest  alive  to  the 
same  extent  as  constantly  increasing  Knowledge  and 
Efficiency,  accompanied,  as  they  must  necessarily  be, 
by  steadily  growing  Success. 

RECEPTIVENESS  TO  TEACHING. 

Successful  men  in  every  walk  of  life  realize  their 
limitations  and  need  of  improvement.  The  "know-it- 
alls"  are  always  found  in  the  ranks  of  failures.  Com- 
mencing as  poor  workmen,  they  gain,  from  sheer  ex- 
perience, a  moderate  measure  of  ability,  remain  sta- 
tionary for  a  few  years,  and  then  retrograde.  With- 
out ever  having  run  through  a  respectable  edition,  they 
become  back  numbers. 

To  increase  your  Efficiency,  you  must  be  conscious 
of  shortcoming  and  anxious  to  learn.  Maintain  a  good 
opinion  of  your  ability,  cherish  self-respect,  cultivate 
confidence — but  don't  entertain  the  fatuous  idea  that 
you  are  beyond  the  range  of  instruction. 

11 


PREPARATION. 

There  is  nothing  more  important  in  life  than  Prep- 
aration. The  successful  man  is  he  who  turns  oppor- 
tunities to  account,  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  being 
prepared  for  them. 

Preparation  as  applied  to  Life  Insurance  salesman- 
ship is  general  and  specific.  The  scope  of  it  is  practic- 
ally unlimited.  Physical  culture,  mental  training,  ac- 
quisition of  knowledge — all  these  are  in  line  with  it. 
As  long  as  you  remain  in  the  business  you  will  be  en- 
gaged in  Preparation — general  preparation  for  greater 
accomplishment,  and  special  preparation  for  particular 
efforts. 

This  phase  of  Efficiency  is  in  itself  an  extensive  sub- 
ject which,  if  we  should  pursue  it,  would  lead  us  into 
the  fields  of  logic,  psychology,  and  other  abstract 
studies.  In  the  following  pages  we  shall  be  restricted 
to  consideration  of  the  acquisition  of  technical  knowl- 
edge and  practical  methods  of  selling  Life  Insurance. 

SCIENTIFIC  SALESMANSHIP. 

Have  you  a  definite  idea  of  an  efficient  canvass? 
Probably  not.  It  is  one  for  which  preparation  has  been 
made  by  securing  all  available  information  about  the 
prospect,  by  a  careful  analysis  of  the  concrete  proposi- 
tion to  be  presented,  and  by  a  thorough  rehearsal  of 
the  main  argument  to  be  advanced.  It  is  one  in  which 
the  prospect's  case  is  treated  as  a  particular  problem 
to  be  solved  in  a  definite  manner.  It  is  one  in  which 
instead  of  a  stereotyped  description  of  the  policy,  just 
such  features  of  it  as  may  be  calculated  to  appeal  to 
the  individual  in  the  case  are  explained  and  dwelt  upon 
— and  no  more.  It  is  one  which  is  brought  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion  by  alert,  discriminating  brain  work, 
by  discovering  and  playing  on  the  motive  through 
which  the  prospect  may  most  readily  be  led  to  desire 
the  policy  and  resolve  to  take  it. 

Any  man  may  qualify  himself  to  make  his  canvasses 
habitually  in  this  manner — no  one  but  may  become,  if 
he  will,  a  good  closer;  that  is  master  of  his  business. 

12 


You  have  been  told,  perhaps,  that  good  closers  are  born 
such.  Some  of  them  are,  but  many  others,  and  among 
them  the  best,  are  self-made  and  with  pretty  poor  ma- 
terial to  start  on,  at  that. 

You  can,  with  reasonable  application  and  diligence, 
convert  yourself  from  a  mere  hack  to  a  scientific  sales- 
man.    It  is  surely  worth  the  time  and  trouble. 


13 


CHAPTER  IL 
THE  ELEMENTS  OF  LIFE  INSURANCE. 

Some  time  ago  an  automobile  salesman  endeavored 
to  sell  me  a  machine.  In  the  course  of  a  short  talk  he 
interested  me  greatly.  I  did  not  see  him  again  for 
several  weeks.  When  he  next  appeared,  I  learned  that 
the  interim  had  been  passed  at  his  company's  works. 
He  talked  for  an  hour  on  the  processes  of  manufacture 
and  when  he  left  I  hoped  never  to  see  him  again.  You 
see,  I  was  thinking  of  buying  a  car, — not  of  setting  up 
a  factory. 

So  in  Life  Insurance,  three  months  in  the  factory, — 
the  actuary's  department, — would  ruin  the  best  sales- 
man. Your  prospect  doesn't  want  to  learn  how  we 
manufacture  our  policies.  He  is  interested  in  hearing 
about  the  working  parts  and  the  service  he  may  derive 
from  them. 

It  is  sufficient  for  you  to  know  the  elementary  princi- 
ples of  Life  Insurance  in  their  practical  bearing  on  your 
work.  You  can  write  applications  efficiently  with  no 
more  technical  knowledge  than  that  of  the  composition 
of  a  premium  and  the  operation  of  the  mortality  tables. 

You  must  not  misunderstand  me,  however.  The 
danger  I  am  warning  you  against  is  not  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  but  the  misuse  of  it.  This  is  almost 
sure  to  result  from  too  great  attention  to  the  technicali- 
ties of  the  business. 

A  well-balanced  daily  ration  would  consist  of  one 
part  theory  and  nine  parts  practice,  and  the  former 
should  have  a  close  relation  to  the  latter.  For  example, 
let  us  suppose  that  in  the  course  of  a  day's  work,  you 
come  into  competition  with  another  company,  and  take 
occasion  to  familiarize  yourself  with  one  or  more  of 
its  policies.  You  have  gained  useful  knowledge  in  a 
much  more  nractical  and  desirable  manner  than  if  you 
should  sit  down  to  study  the  contracts  of  half  a  dozen 

14 


companies,   with  an   indefinite  view  to  possible   future 
contingencies. 

PARTICIPATING  AND  NON-PARTICIPATING 
INSURANCE. 

Legal  Reserve  life  insurance  is  issued  on  two  gen- 
eral plans.  Under  one  of  these  the  premium  is  subject 
to  reduction  by  dividends.  Under  the  other,  the  prem- 
ium remains  constant  at  a  guaranteed  figure. 

Participating  and  Non-participating  insurance  have 
advantages  peculiar  to  each  system.  As  a  practical 
issue  the  choice  between  the  plans  should  be  influenced 
by  consideration  of  the  particular  requirements  of  the 
individual  insurer. 

FORMS  OF  LIFE  INSURANCE. 

There  are  but  two  basic  forms  of  Life  Insurance — 
Term  Insurance  and  Pure  Endowment.  The  principle 
of  the  former  is  the  payment  of  a  certain  amount  at 
the  death  of  the  insured,  of  the  latter  the  payment  at 
the  end  of  a  specified  period  provided  the  insured  is 
living.  The  combination  of  these  two  forms  in  vary- 
ing degrees  produces  the  many  standard  forms  of  life 
insurance.  The  Whole  Life  contract  is  simply  term 
insurance  for  the  entire  life  expectancy  and  the  insured 
is  required  to  pay  premiums  as  long  as  he  lives.  The 
Limited  Payment  Life  policy  is  identical  with  the  Whole 
Life,  except  that  the  insured  commutes  the  payments 
that  he  would  be  called  upon  to  make  under  a  Whole 
Life  policy,  undertaking  instead  to  complete  the  pur- 
chase of  the  policy  with  a  definite  number  of  payments. 
An  Endowment  policy  is  a  direct  combination  of  Term 
insurance  and  Pure  Endowment,  and  as  a  result  provides 
for  a  certain  amount  either  at  the  death  of  the  insured 
or  at  the  end  of  a  specified  period  if  the  insured  is  then 
living.  The  Monthly  Income  policies  differ  only  from 
the  standard  contracts  in  the  manner  of  paying  the 
claim.  Such  policies  may  be  written  on  the  life,  limited 
payment  life  or  endowment  plans. 

THE  PREMIUM— How  It  Is  Constructed.  • 
We   will   now    analyze    a    Whole    Life    Participating 
premium  at  age  33,  using  this  as  a  medium  for  demon- 

15 


strating  why  certain  amounts  are  charged  for  Life 
Insurance  and  what  becomes  of  the  money.  Our  fig- 
ures will  be  approximations  and  may  vary  a  little  from 
technical  precision  for  the  sake  of  readier  understand- 
ing. 

At  the  outset,  let  me  ask  you  to  bear  constantly  in 
mind  that  interest  and  the  law  of  averages  are  the 
bases  of  all  life  insurance  calculations  and  the  effective 
factors  in  all  life  insurance  results. 

All  practical  working  premiums  are  composed  of 
three  elements:  Mortality,  or  cost  arising  from  death 
losses  during  the  year.  Reserve,  the  portion  set  aside 
for  future  losses;  and  Loading  or  Expense  fund. 
For  the  premium  under  consideration,  as  paid  for  the 
first  year,  the  segregation  of  these  various  elements  is 
as  follows: 

WHOLE   LIFE  ANNUAL  DIVIDEND. 

Age  33  Premium  $26.35 

IVIortality  -  -  $  9.00 
Reserve  -  -  -  11.00 
Loading     -     -     -       6.00 

THE  MORTALITY  CHARGE. 

Life  Insurance  companies  calculate  their  "expected" 
or  mathematical  mortality  on  certain  statistics  repre- 
senting extensive  experience.  These  tables  may  be 
relied  upon  to  indicate  the  number  of  deaths  at  various 
ages  which  a  well-managed  company  will  need  to  pro- 
vide for  yearly.  The  actual  experience  may  vary  from 
the  tabular  figures  in  certain  years  or  even  constantly, 
but  there  will  be  an  average  correspondence  in  any 
short  period,  say  eight  years  and  throughout  the  com- 
pany's operation. 

Let  us  assume  a  group  of  1000  men,  aged  33,  as  being 
insured  for  $1000  each.  The  American  Experience 
Table  of  Mcrtality  calls  for  9  deaths  per  thousand  per 
annum  at  that  age,  so  that  $9000  would  be  required  to 
meet  the  claims,  and  a  contribution  of  $9.00  from  each 
man  would  furnish  the  necessary  sum. 

If  the  insurance  were  terminable  at  the  end  of  the 

16 


year,  there  would  be  no  need  to  collect  a  greater 
amount.  The  mortality,  however,  is  steadily  increas- 
ing. Whilst  $9000  would  meet  the  death  losses  in  the 
assumed  group  for  the  first  year,  it  would  require 
$15  per  1000  to  do  so  in  the  twentieth  year,  and  when 
the  members  had  reached  the  age  of  65,  they  would 
die  at  the  rate  of  40  per  thousand. 

This  increase  in  mortality  might  be,  and,  indeed, 
sometimes  has  been,  provided  for  by  a  gradually  rising 
premium.  The  objections  to  such  an  arrangement  are 
obvious. 

The  method  in  general  practice  is  the  Uniform  An- 
nual Premium  system.  Under  this  a  certain  premium 
is  fixed  for  the  age  at  entry,  and  the  same  amount  is 
charged  every  year  throughout  the  life  of  the  insured. 
For  instance,  excluding  the  margin  for  expense,  at  age 
33,  the  constant  annual  payment  of  $20.00  is  equivalent 
to  graduated  payments  beginning  with  $9.00  and  in- 
creasing yearly  during  the  life  of  the  policy. 

THE  RESERVE. 

This  $20  at  3  per  cent  interest  will  amount  to  $20.60, 
— let  us  say,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  $21, — at  the 
end  of  the  first  year.  Death  losses  will  call  for  $9, 
leaving  $12.  Now,  this  $12  is  the  nucleus  of  a  sinking 
fund  which  will  provide  for  the  continuously  increas- 
ing cost  of  insurance.  Each  year  the  difference  be- 
tween the  net  premium  of  $20  and  the  amount  of  the 
tabular  Mortality  is  set  aside  and  constantly  improved 
at  interest.    The  fund  thus  created  is  called  the  Reserve. 

The  aggregate  of  policy  Reserves  represents  the  re- 
source on  which  the  Company  depends  to  meet  its 
contractual  obligations.  The  maintenance  of  the  Re- 
serve with  accrued  interest  constitutes  a  distinct  lia- 
bility,— is,  in  fact,  a  legal  requirement.  Its  impairment 
would  entail  technical  insolvency. 

The  Mortality  and  Loading  elements  of  the  premium 
being  used  annually  in  the  discharge  of  current  lia- 
bilities, the  Reserve  represents  all  the  money  standing 
to  the  credit  of  a  policy, — with  the  possible  exception 
of  dividends,  which  we  shall  consider  later.     The   Re- 

17 


serve  provides  the  Loan  and  Surrender  Values,  pays 
the  Endowment,  purchases  the  Paid-up  Policy,  and 
aids  in  the  discharge  of  Death  Claims. 

THE  LOADING. 

We  have  seen  that  $20  paid  annually  by  a  man  en- 
tering at  age  33,  and  corresponding  sums  by  men  of 
other  ages,  will  suffice  to  meet  all  death  losses  as  they 
occur.  But  this  does  not  leave  any  money  for  Ex- 
penses, or  for  losses  other  than  by  death,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  tabular  expectation.  It  is  necessary  to 
add  to  the  net  premium  a  loading  to  provide  for  ex- 
pense of  management,  taxes,  possible  impairment  of 
investments,  etc. 

The  net  premium  is  the  result  of  mathematical  calcu- 
lation on  exact  data.  The  Loading  is  an  arbitrary 
amount,  but  much  the  same  with  all  companies. 

The  principle  illustrated  here  in  connection  with  the 
Whole  Life  policy,  is  applied  to  all  forms  of  insurance. 
Knowing  the  Level  Premium  necessary  to  be  paid  for 
life  at  a  certain  age,  it  is  a  simple  calculation  to  arrive 
at  the  present  worth  of  the  future  payments,  and  so 
fix  the  Single  Premium.  It  is  equally  easy  to  equate 
these  future  payments  into  ten,  fifteen  or  twenty  prem- 
iums. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Actuary  first  finds  his 
Single  Premium  and  makes  it  the  basis  for  calculating 
other  premiums. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  Endowment  insurance. 
At  age  33,  the  premium  on  a  20-year  Endowment  is 
$50.80.  The  Reserve  is  approximately  $35.  This  Re- 
serve, together  with  the  amounts  accumulated  from  the 
succeeding  premiums,  with  3  per  cent  compound  inter- 
est will  amount  to  $1000  at  the  end  of  the  endowment 
period. 

THE  PREMIUM— What  Becomes  of  It. 

Each  policy  account  is  kept  separately  and  in  detail. 
In  the  case  which  we  are  considering  the  first  year's 
statement  would  reveal  something  like  the  following 
results: 

18 


Premium    $26.35 

Expenses  at  15% 3.95 

Effective  Premium  $22.40 

Interest  for  one  year,  assuming  rate  of  5%     1.12 

Accumulating  Fund  at  end  of  year $23.52 

Reserve  at  end  of  year $11.85 

Mortality  Cost,  $8.62,  assuming  a  saving 
of  15%  7.32 

Total  amount  demanded $19.17 


Balance   $  4.35 

It  should  be  explained  that  the  Expense  element  of 
the  premium  is  abstracted  from  it  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year.  The  amount  in  question  is  used  to  meet  cur- 
rent expenditures,  and  interest  is  not  calculated  upon  it. 
This  item  is  necessarily  much  larger  in  the  earlier 
years  than  later,  owing  to  the  expense  of  placing  the 
business  on  the  books.  For  the  sake  of  convenience 
an  average  rate  of  15%  has  been  assumed  and  applied 
to  both  exhibits. 

The  elements  of  the  Net  Premium  are  separated  and 
applied  to  their  respective  accounts  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  and  after  a  full  year's  interest  has  been  .earned  on 
them.  Usually  it  is  found  that  the  actual  Mortality 
experience  does  not  call  for  the  appropriation  of  the 
full  amount  charged  for  the  purpose,  and  a  balance  is 
carried  to  the  Surplus  fund. 

The  next  year's  account  would  be  similar  except  for 
the  addition  of  the  previous  year's  Reserve,  making  in 
all  $11.85  and  $22.40  or  $34.25  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  to  be  placed  at  interest. 

The  amount  at  risk  decreases  in  proportion  to  the 
growth  of  the  Reserve,  although  the  Mortality  increases 
at  the  same  time.  Let  us  take  the  20th  year.  The  death 
rate  will  be  15  per  thousand,  consequently  the  tabular 
Mortality  cost  will  be  $15  for  one  thousand  of  insurance. 
But  each  reserve  fund  has  accumulated  $306,  so  that 
the  amount  at  risk  is  not  $1000,  but  the  difference  be- 
tween these  amounts  or  $694.    The  individual  contribu- 

19 


tion  necessary  to  meet  the  death  losses  is  not  $15  but 
$10.40,  for  if  15  die,  involving  a  loss  of  $15,000,  and 
each  has  a  reserve  of  $306,  aggregating  $4590,  the  net 
loss  is  only  $10,410.  In  the  20th  year  the  policy  ac- 
count would  be  somewhat  as  follows: 

Premium    $26.35 

Expense  at  15% 3.95 

Effective  Premium   $22.40 

Reserve  from  previous  year $287.90 

Interest  on  $310.30  at  5% 15.52    $325.82 

Mortality  Cost    10.68 

Reserve  carried  forward 306.33    $317.01 

Balance    $    8.81 

THE  SURPLUS. 

Our  two  policy  statements  show  that  the  insured 
paid  $4.35  more  than  was  necessary  the  first  year  and 
$8.81  in  the  20th  year,  and  of  course,  there  was  a  vary- 
ing excess  through  intermediate  years. 

If  the  Company  had  realized  exactly  3%  on  its  in- 
vested assets;  if  the  death  losses  had  exactly  corre- 
sponded with  the  mortality  tables,  and  if  the  entire 
loading  had  been  used  yearly,  the  amount  on  hand  at 
the  end  of  each  year  would  have  been  the  aggregate 
Reserves  with  the  accrued  Interest.  We  have  seen,  how- 
ever, that  Interest  earnings  in  excess  of  the  calculated 
rate,  gains  from  careful  selection  of  risks  and  economy 
in  management  will  create  savings.  The  sum  total  of 
these  savings  is  called  the  Surplus. 

As  the  experience  of  the  Company  in  the  matters  of 
Mortality,  Expense  and  Interest  are  apt  to  vary,  a 
portion  of  the  earned  Surplus  is  retained  to  provide  for 
contingencies.  The  balance  is  divided  among  the 
policyholders  in  the  form  of  dividends. 

In  the  case  under  consideration  the  Surplus  the  first 
year  is  $4.35  and  at  the  end  of  the  20th  year  $8.81.  The 
company  would  pay  dividends  of  about  16%  and  34% 
respectively. 

There  are  several  ways  of  disposing  of  dividends. 
They  may  be 

20 


(1)  Applied  in  cash  to  reduce  the  succeeding  premium. 

(2)  Left  with  the  company  to  accumulate  at  3J^  per 

cent  Compound  Interest. 

(3)  Used  as  a  Single  Premium  to  purchase  Reversion- 

ary Additions. 

(4)  Employed  to  accelerate  the  Reserve  accumulation, 

with  a  view  to  curtailing  the  premium  paying 
period. 

(5)  Retained  by  the  company  for  a  certain  period,  to 

be  paid  at  the  end  of  the  stipulated  time  only  in 
the  event  of  the  policy  being  in  force. 

The  first  named  option,  although  the  least  profitable 
to  the  policy-holder,  is  the  most  frequently  exercised; 
the  second  is  the  same  in  eflfect  as  the  fourth;  the  last, 
— called  the  "deferred  dividend  system  of  distribution" 
- — is  virtually  abolished. 

To  the  man  whose  chief  consideration  is  protection, 
the  privilege  of  converting  his  dividends  into  Paid-up 
Insurance  additions  to  fiis  policy,  should  be  the  most 
attractive.  To  illustrate  the  working  of  this  method: 
Let  us  assume  that  our  hypothetical  policy-holder  uses 
his  first  yearns  Dividend — 16%  of  the  premium,  $4.35, 
in  this  manner.  At  age  34,  this  amount  will  buy  about 
$10  of  Paid-up  Insurance.  In  the  event  of  his  death 
in  the  following  year,  $1,010  would  be  paid  by  the 
Company.  In  the  20th  year,  when  he  is  54  years  old, 
his  Dividend  of  $8.81  will  purchase  an  addition  of 
about  $15.00  which,  together  with  his  former  additions, 
will  have  grown  to  about  $240.  The  Insured  may  at 
any  time  surrender  these  paid-up  additions  for  their 
reserve  value  which  is  available  to  him  in  Cash  in  the 
same  manner  as  is  the  Reserve  Cash  Value  of  his 
original  policy. 

Another  way  of  looking  at  the  advantage  of  allow- 
ing dividends  to  purchase  paid-up  additions  to  the 
policy  is  as  follows: 

Under  a  20  Payment  Life  policy  issued  at  age  thirty- 
three  the  policy  would  have  a  paid-up  life  insurance 
value  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  about  $843.00.  If  the 
dividend  apportioned  under  this  policy  had  been  al- 
lowed to  purchase  paid-up  additions  the  sum  of  such 

21 


additions  would  unquestionably  by  the  end  of  the  sev- 
enteenth year  be  sufficient  when  added  to  the  paid-up 
value  of  the  policy  as  stated  to  produce  a  total  paid-up 
amount  of  $1000.  In  this  way  it  may  be  considered  that 
the  premium  paying  period  is  shortened  three  years, 
giving  the  insured  a  paid-up  policy  for  the  original  face 
amount  after  the  payment  of  seventeen  premiums  in- 
stead of  twenty. 


22 


CHAPTER  III. 
SECURING    AND    APPROACHING    PROSPECTS. 

Securing  prospects,  although  a  primary  necessity  in 
the  work  of  a  Life  Insurance  agent,  is  the  least  diffi- 
cult phase  of  it.  Any  man  of  ordinary  intelligence  and 
mental  activity  may  keep  his  supply  of  canvassing  ma- 
terial constantly  at  high  water  mark  with  little  effort. 
When  we  consider  that  Life  Insurance  is  almost  a  uni- 
versal need,  it  does  not  appear  that  there  can  be  any 
lack  of  persons  favorable  to  an  approach  on  the  subject. 

The  fact  remains,  nevertheless,  that  many  agents 
overlook  the  most  obvious  and  ready  sources  of  pros- 
pects. A  single  Sunday  issue  of  any  city  paper  will 
afford  enough  suggestions  in  this  connection  to  keep 
the  most  active  man  busy  for  two  months,  or  more. 
The  agent  who  has  one  policyholder  possesses  the  nu- 
cleus of  unlimited  prospects.  The  registers  of  many 
highly  successful  solicitors  show  that  each  policy  re- 
corded was  traceable  to  one  previously  placed.  This 
kind  of  business  represents  the  greatest  returns  for  the 
energy  expended.  The  smaller  the  circle  in  which  you 
work,  the  greater  the  economy  of  effort. 

If  anyone  doubts  the  plentifulness  of  prospects,  let 
him  make  a  straight  canvass  for  seven  hours  of  six 
days  in  succession.  He  will  obtain  enough  material  to 
supply  him  with  sixty  days*  closing  work.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  effective  means  of  securing  prospects.  The 
degree  of  success  attained  will  depend  upon  the  temp- 
erament and  qualifications  of  the  agent.  The  man  who 
is  an  adept  at  Approach  cannot  adopt  any  better  method 
of  seeking  prospects  than  the  straight  canvass. 

Don't  depend  upon  the  lazy  agent's  prospect.  He  is 
everlastingly  looking  for  the  rare  man  who  wants  insur- 
ance. He  is  not  a  salesman.  He  is  merely  an  order 
clerk.  The  manager  can  send  one  of  the  bookkeepers 
out  to  write  a  case  of  that  sort.  All  you  should  look 
for  in  a  prospect  is  a  man  who  may  reasonably  be  in- 

23 


terested  in  insurance.    You  are  not  half  way  efficient  un- 
less you  have  confidence  in  your  ability  to  do  the  rest. 

THE  APPROACH. 

Having  marked  a  man  as  a  likely  prospect,  the  first 
step  is  to  approach  him.  Before  doing  so,  it  is  w^ell  to 
learn  as  much  about  him  as  you  can.  Any  item  of  in- 
formation, no  matter  how  seemingly  irrelevant — may 
aid  you  in  the  after  canvass.  The  time  spent  in  this 
preliminary  effort  must  be  regulated  by  the  prospect- 
ive profit  in  the  case. 

This  preparatory  inquiry  is  of  the  utmost  importance. 
It  should  enable  you  to  decide  on  the  amount  and  kind 
of  policy,  as  well  as  the  Motive  to  be  played  on.  Not 
infrequently  you  will  be  in  a  position,  from  the  knowl- 
edge secured  beforehand,  to  prepare  a  clear  cut  can- 
vass and  to  present  a  definite  proposition,  distinctly 
adapted  to  the  conditions  of  the  case.  This,  in  itself, 
will  constitute  a  sufficient  and  business  like  reason  for 
your  approach.  It  will  flatter  your  prospect  and  ex- 
cite his  respect  for  you  as  a  salesman.  He  will  appre- 
ciate the  fact  that  you  have  taken  the  trouble  to  gain 
the  information  necessary  to  the  formation  of  a  logical 
proposition.  And  he  will  readily  concede  a  distinction 
between  you  and  the  haphazard  agent,  whose  only  ex- 
cuse for  calling  upon  him  is  that  "he  would  like  to  sell 
him  some  insurance". 

Now,  as  we  prepare  to  confront  our  prospect  some 
of  us  are  beginning  to  feel  anxious,  nervous — and  even 
fearful.  If  that  is  your  state,  I  say:  "Don't  let  it 
discourage  you."  Self-confidence  is  a  very  valuable 
qualification  for  the  salesman,  but  he  may  make  a  big 
success  without  it.  One  of  the  largest  writers  of  Life 
Insurance  in  this  country  is  painfully  diffident  after 
eight  years  of  success.  He  finds  difficulty  in  summon- 
ing courage  to  enter  the  office  of  a  man  with  whom  he 
has  an  appointment.  His  Approach  is  miserably  weak 
and  he  needs  to  employ  another  to  prepare  prospects  for 
him.  But,  once  he  enters  upon  his  canvass,  he  is  a 
veritable  whirlwind.  The  man  who  pitied  him  for  his 
bashfulness  at  the  opening  of  the  interview,  presently 
finds  himself  as  a  wisp  of  straw  in  his  hands. 

24 


Intense  interest  in  your  proposition  will  banish  self 
consciousness  and  fear.  Cultivate  intensity  and  con- 
centration. This  will  make  your  canvass  forceful,  no 
matter  how  halting  may  have  been  your  Approach. 
Of  the  two,  it  were  ten  times  more  preferable  to  be  a 
good  closer  than  to  be  a  good  opener.  You  will  prob- 
ably gain  self-confidence  with  increased  efficiency,  but 
never  forget  that  you  may  become  a  star  salesman  and 
remain  as  diffident  as  a  debutante.  Many  a  promising 
man  has  abandoned  the  career  of  Life  Insurance  be- 
cause he  was  persuaded  that  he  could  not  succeed  with- 
out Self  Assurance. 

I  have  no  thought  of  discounting  the  value  of  a 
pleasing  personality,  but  it  sinks  into  insignificance 
under  a  powerful  presentation  of  a  policy.  Some  of  the 
most  successful  salesmen  are  positively  repulsive  in 
appearance.  Not  a  few  suffer  from  physical  defects 
that  are  fearful  handicaps.  A  man  who  was  for 
years  in  the  million-dollar  class  of  Life  Insurance 
producers,  exuded  a  disgusting  odor  from  his  person 
as  a  result  of  diabetes.  He  was  keenly  conscious  of 
this  disagreeable  fact,  but  five  minutes  after  he  and 
a  prospect  were  seated  together  both  completely  for- 
got everything  but  the  proposition  under  consideration. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  point  for  the  encouragement 
of  any  among  you  that  may  belong  to  the  numerous 
class  who  are  constitutionally  diffident  in  approaching 
strangers.  If  you  cannot  overcome  this  difficulty,  you 
may  minimize  its  effect  by  strengthening  yourself  in 
the  more  important  stages  of  the  Canvass.  If  you  lack 
skill  in  inserting  the  wedge,  acquire  force  to  drive  it 
home.  Thus,  though  your  closing  interviews  may  be 
comparatively  few,  your  percentage  of  applications, 
secured  will  be  exceptionally  high. 

Any  one  of  the  many  text  books  on  Life  Insurance 
Salesmanship  will  give  you  a  number  of  more  or  less 
trite  suggestions  bearing  on  the  Approach.  I  will  re- 
strict myself  to  an  explanation  of  the  principles  under- 
lying this  phase  of  the  Canvass. 

Getting  in  to  see  a  prospect  is  largely  a  matter  of 
knack.    It  is  not  sufficient  to  depend  upon  sheer  nerve. 

25 


That  often  leads  to  "butting  in"  and  overlooks  the  fact 
that  the  main  purpose  is  not  to  see  the  man  but  to  sell 
him.  You  might  enter  a  busy  man's  office  by  the  win- 
dow, but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  you  could  place 
a  policy  with  him  after  doing  so. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  case  of  the  man  who  comes 
out  to  see  you.  His  very  doing  so  betrays  an  intention 
to  be  rid  of  you  there  and  then.  If  you  are  going  to 
permit  him  to  carry  out  his  object,  you  had  better  not 
have  wasted  time  on  the  call.  This  is  the  moment  to 
measure  your  strength  of  purpose  with  his,  and  the  re- 
sult of  this  preliminary  contest  of  will  may  exert  a 
great  influence  in  the  ultimate  outcome  of  your  nego- 
tiations with  him.  If  he  has  his  way  now,  your  entire 
purpose  is  hazarded,  if  not  destroyed.  If  he  yields  to 
you,  you  have  advanced  a  step  in  the  path  which  you 
must  pursue  to  secure  his  application. 

I  will  not  talk  business  to  a  man  with  a  rail,  or  counter, 
much  less  a  grating  between  us.  Not  to  mention  the 
principle  which  we  have  just  discussed,  the  psycho- 
logical effect  of  the  physical  barrier  is  too  much  of  a 
disadvantage  to  me.  Nor  will  I  open  a  canvass  on  my 
feet.    The  position  is  too  suggestive  of  quitting. 

If  a  man  meets  me  under  any  of  these  conditions,  I 
say,  in  decisive  tones:  "I  wish  to  speak  to  you  on  a 
matter  of  business  Mr.  Smith.  We  will  step  back  to 
your  desk  for  a  few  minutes,  if  you  please."  At  the 
same  I  move  in  the  desired  direction,  quietly  going 
through  the  gate,  if  there  is  one,  and  offering  my  hand 
as  I  reach  his  side.  The  physical  contact  at  that  crit- 
ical moment  has  a  potent  effect.  Nine  times  out  of  ten 
my  man  will  permit  me  to  lead  him  to  his  office.  If  he 
persists  in  knowing  my  business  I  say  that  "I  prefer  to 
state  it  in  private".  This  will  seldom  change  his  decis- 
ion. When  he  repeats  the  question,  I  reply  as  pleas- 
antly as  possible:  "You  will  pardon  me,  Mr.  Smith,  if 
I  decline  to  deviate  from  my  rule  not  to  discuss  my 
business  under  unfavorable  conditions.  It  is  too  im- 
portant, and  experience  has  taught  me  that  unless  I 
may  present  my  proposition  to  a  man  when  he  can  give 
it  his  undivided  attention,  I  am  wasting  his  time  and 

26 


my  own/*  With  this  I  put  on  my  hat  and  hand  him  my 
card.  Now,  it  has  frequently  happened  that  just  at  this 
point  the  right  kind  of  impression  has  been  created,  with 
the  result  that  the  man  has  said,  "Come  right  in." 

I  cannot  too  strongly  condemn  the  practice  of  trick- 
ery, equivocation,  or  deception  in  the  effort  to  secure  an 
interview.  It  is  the  poorest  sort  of  introduction  to  a 
man  whose  confidence  you  must  gain  in  order  to  do 
business  with  him.  You  cannot  open  your  canvass 
under  a  worse  condition  than  that  of  having  a  subject 
moved  by  anger,  surprise  or  disappointment,  occasioned 
by  your  devious  method  of  gaining  entrance  to  his  office. 

PASSING  THE  BARRIERS. 

Let  us  liken  the  Canvass  to  a  tapering  wedge  with 
the  application  at  the  butt  end  of  it.  We  must  provide 
this  instrument  with  a  thin  sharp  edge,  capable  of  be- 
ing slipped  into  the  narrowest  crevice.  This  edge  is 
the  Approach. 

In  many  cases  the  prospect  has  interposed  a  barrier 
between  him  and  you,  though  not  you  any  more 
than  other  unappointed  visitors.  This  he  has  been 
obliged  to  do  in  self  protection,  if  he  is  a 
busy  and  successful  man.  It  is  just  such  men  that  you 
most  desire  to  see,  and  you  must  devise  means  of  in- 
serting the  '.hin  end  of  your  wedge  under  the  barrier. 

This  barrier  may  be  a  rail,  an  office  boy,  secretary, 
or  telephone  operator.  Whichever  it  be  you  must 
confront  the  obstacle  with  self  possession  and  the  air 
of  having  important  business  with  the  man  you  seek. 
The  very  fact  of  its  being  important  is  suffi^cient  rea- 
son for  declining  to  disclose  it  to  an  employee.  Tell 
him  that  pleasantly  and  enlist  his  aid  in  getting  in. 
You  can  do  this  in  a  manner  to  flatter  and  gratify  him. 

"I  am  very  anxious  to  see  Mr.  Blank  for  a  few  min- 
utes. I  am  in  somewhat  of  a  hurry,  but  if  you'll  be 
kind  enough  to  let  me  know  as  soon  as  he  is  disen- 
gaged ril  wait  awhile.  I  shall  be  ever  so  much  obliged 
to  you."  Deliver  this  with  the  most  compelling  smile 
at  your  command. 

Now  you  have  the  young  man  interested  in  your  ef- 

27 


fort.  He  has  tacitly  consented  to  do  you  a  favor. 
Under  such  circumstances  I  have  seen  him  jealously 
watching  another  man  to  see  that  he  didn't  get  in  be- 
fore his  visitor.  When  the  coast  is  clear,  he  will  either 
show  you  to  your  prospect's  door,  or  inform  the  lat- 
ter. "Mr.  Doe  has  been  waiting  to  see  you,  Sir".  In 
either  case  you  will  probably  go  right  in. 

If,  however,  the  clerk  returns  with  an  inquiry  as  to 
your  business,  you  are  up  against  a  hard  case.  To  send 
in  a  card  would  be  useless.  You  must  resort  to  a  note. 
What  is  the  difference?  A  great  deal — though  I  can't 
tell  you  exactly  wherein  it  lies.  The  novelty  and  the 
personal  touch  count  for  something,  but  the  main 
effect  is  unquestionably  derived  from  the  contents  of 
the  note.  Thought  will  suggest  innumerable  forms. 
Essential  qualities  must  be  brevity  and  truth.  You 
must  be  able  to  stand  for  every  word  in  your  note 
when  you  meet  your  prospect. 

A  highly  successful  salesman  is  quoted  by  "System" 
as  using  the  following  note  or  a  variation  of  it,  with 
the  desired  result  in  ninety  per  cent  of  cases. 

"Mr.  Blank,  a  business  card  costs  about  one  half  cent. 
My  time  is  wroth  fifteen  cents  a  minute.  But  my 
proposition  is  so  important,  both  to  you  and  to  me, 
that  I  can  better  afford  to  devote  several  minutes  of 
my  time  to  this  note — and  you  will  agree  with  me  when 
you  hear  what  I  have  to  say." 

The  following  is  the  substance  of  a  note  which  I 
have  used  effectively  in  Wall  Street  on  some  of  the 
busiest  men  in  New  York: 

"Mr.  Blank,  my  business  is  with  you  personally.  I 
sincerely  believe  that  it  will  interest  you.  At  any  rate, 
that  is  a  point  which  you  can  decide  in  five  minutes, — 
and  I  seriously  doubt  whether  you  can  afford  to  forego 
that  degree  of  investigation." 

In  such  cases  my  cutting  edge  had  to  be  unusually 
long,  so  that  it  would  keep  on  driving  in  and  enable 
me  to  create  immediate  interest.  I  had  to  make  good 
on  the  "five  minutes"  proposition  in  my  note. 

These  prospects  were  never  approached  without  care- 
ful preparation.     I  was  always  well-informed  as  to  my 

28 


man's  business  and  domestic  aflFairs,  and  ready  to 
make  in  three  minutes  some  statement  logically  calcu- 
lated to  interest  him  in  one  or  the  other  connection 
and  convince  him  that  I  had  devoted  mature  thought 
to  the  matter. 

The  telephone  operator  is  the  most  difficult  barrier  to 
pass.  The  man  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire  is  sure  to 
ask  your  business  and  3'^ou  cannot  employ  the  note.  I 
resort  to  a  scheme  which  converts  this  difficulty  into 
something  of  an  advantage. 

When  the  girl  turns  with  "Mr.  Blank  would  like  to 
know  your  business,  please,"  I  lean  over  the  switch- 
board and  say,  so  that  my  prospect  may  hear  me,  "Very 
well,  kindly  let  me  have  that  receiver  one  moment." 
Then  I  talk  to  my  man  and  can  generally  gain  his  con- 
sent to  see  me.  (This  method  was  not  practicable  when 
the  telephone  girls  wore  a  sort  of  electrocuting  con- 
trivance over  their  heads.) 

Underlying  all  these  suggestions  are  principles  of 
psychology.  We  cannot  examine  these  closely  but  it 
may  be  stated  that  your  appeal  for  an  interview  must 
be  based  on  one  of  four  different  grounds.  They  are: 
Personal  Interest,  Business  Duty,  Sense  of  Fairness  or 
Sympathy,  or  Natural  Instinct  for  choosing  the  easier 
of  Two  Courses. 

I  have  given  an  illustration  of  the  first  in  the  case  of 
the  clerk  whose  interest  you  arouse.  You  may  excite 
the  Sense  of  Business  Duty  in  the  president  of  a  corp- 
oration, to  whom  you  wish  to  present  a  proposition  for 
commercial  insurance,  by  a  note  stating  that  you  desire 
to  see  him  on  a  matter  concerning  the  stockholders  of 
his  company.  The  third  ground  may  be  taken  with  a 
busy  prospect  by  conveying  to  him  the  impression  that 
you  too  are  busy  and  chary  of  wasting  time.  By  puz- 
zling your  prospect  and  exciting  his  curiosity  you  may 
induce  him  to  decide  that  the  easiest  course  is  to  see 
you.  My  Wall  Street  note  was  designed  to  appeal  in 
some  measure  to  each  of  these  motives  for  acquiescence 
in  mj^  request  for  an  interview. 


29 


CHAPTER  IV. 
PRESENTING  THE  POLICY. 

Your  knowledge  of  the  policies  you  have  to  sell 
must  be  thorough  and  the  presentations  flexible.  You 
must  be  able  to  describe  them,  not  only  in  the  ordin- 
ary course,  but  from  the  middle,  in  either  direction, 
and  from  the  end  backwards,  if  necessary.  When  you 
can  do  this,  interruptions  will  not  embarrass  you.  You 
will  be  able  to  break  off  in  your  Canvass  to  answer  an 
inquiry,  or  discuss  an  objection,  and  readily  return  to 
the  point  of  divergence  and  resume  your  explanation. 

Your  statement  of  a  policy  contract  should  be  di- 
vided into  definite  sections,  logically  connected,  but 
separable,  so  that  you  may  present  them  in  varying 
sequence  and  expatiate  on  one,  whilst  you  pass  lightly 
over  another,  as  the  conditions  of  the  case  in  hand 
demand. 

The  policy  should  be  as  a  lump  of  plastic  clay  in 
your  hands,  so  that,  without  changing  its  essential 
composition,  you  can  make  it  assume  whatever  form 
you  desire, — protection  for  dependents,  provision  for 
old  age,  security  for  the  business  man,  saving  for  the 
salaried  employee,  and  so  forth.  You  must  be  able  to 
present  the  same  policy  in  half  a  dozen  different  as- 
pects to  as  many  prospects.  It  will  be  the  same  policy 
and  the  same  canvass,  but  the  presentation  and  the  plan 
will  differ  with  the  prospect. 

When  you  have  acquired  this  facility,  your  Canvass 
will  be  neither  haphazard  nor  stereotyped.  Your  talk 
will  not  be  a  dull  monotonous  recital,  calculated  to 
hypnotize  yourself  and  put  your  prospect  to  sleep. 
Instead  of  drowsing  through  your  proposition  you  will 
present  it  in  a  lively  fashion  and  with  wits  alert.  Your 
story,  although  the  same  in  substance,  will  sound  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  your  prospect  has  heard  from 
a  dozen  other  agents. 

Did    you    ever   mark    the    contrast   between    an    ex- 

30 


temporary  prayer  and  one  which  was  part  of  a  regular 
church  service?  In  the  latter  case,  preacher  and  con- 
gregation go  through  almost  automatic  processes,  the 
one  in  speaking  and  the  others  in  following  him.  The 
former  case  demands  mental  activity  on  the  part  of 
the  speaker  and  the  hearers.  The  prescribed  prayer  is 
the  smoother  in  delivery,  but  the  extemporaneous  pray- 
er is  the  more  forceful.  Such  is  the  difference  between 
the  routine  canvass  and  the  flexible  canvass. 

A  simple  division  of  the  policy  statement  is  into  four 
sections:  1.  Principle  Benefit.  2.  Secondary  Bene- 
fits. 3.  Contingent  Benefits.  4.  Kind,  Cost  and  Re- 
turns. (I  may  disclaim,  in  passing,  any  attempt  at  pre- 
cision in  phraseology.  The  main  object  is  to  secure 
distinctive  terms.) 

In  the  study  and  analysis  of  a  policy  contract,  adopt 
this  subdivision.  Assemble  the  different  features  under 
the  appropriate  headings.  Do  this  on  paper  until,  in  a 
mental  survey  of  the  policy,  each  element  falls  into 
its  proper  place,  without  effort  on  your  part.  Then 
you  will  be  capable  of  a  flexible  canvass.  You  will  be 
able  to  transpose  the  sections  in  any  manner,  without 
the  least  confusion  or  impairment  of  the  clear-cut  qual- 
ity of  your  statement. 

In  the  above  enumeration  the  sections  are  given  in 
the  logical  sequence.  This  may  conflict  with  your 
present  idea,  but  a  little  thought  will  induce  you  to 
agree  with  me.  Probably  you  commence  your  Canvass 
with  a  statement  of  the  premium,  and  then  go  on  to 
an  explanation  of  the  surrender  values.  You  do  this 
because  the  policy  statement  is  so  arranged  in  your 
rate  book  and  you  have  learned  it  by  rote. 

Now,  the  effect  of  your  method  is  to  produce  in  your 
prospect's  mind  an  adverse  attitude  at  the  outset.  You 
open  up  by  confronting  him  with  the  one  difficulty 
which  stands  in  the  way  of  his  accepting  your  offer 
and  you  do  this  before  you  have  put  forward  your 
proposition.  Then  you  go  on  to  suggest  the  possibility 
of  failure  to  complete  the  contract.  You  talk  about 
surrendering  a  thing  of  which  your  man  has  not -yet 
begun  to  seriously  consider  the  possession. 

31 


If  you  were  trying  to  dissuade  your  prospect,  this 
would  be  the  best  way  to  go  about  it.  These  are  pre- 
cisely the  features  of  the  policy, — cost  and  surrender — 
that  a  man's  wife  or  friend  dilates  upon,  when  endeav- 
oring to  deter  him  from  taking  it.  Your  object  is  to 
Create  Desire.  Therefore  present  the  benefits  first  of 
all.  For  my  part,  I  seldom  mention  the  surrender  con- 
ditions, nor  allow  any  word  synonymous  with  "lapse" 
to  enter  into  my  Canvass.  I  do,  however,  draw  atten- 
tion to  the  loan  privilege.  Leave  the  matter  of  the 
cost  to  the  last  and  then  rivet  it  to  the  settlement. 
Never  let  the  former  appear  in  your  prospect's  mind, 
except  with  the  other  as  an  accompaniment.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  accomplish  this.  When  you  state  the  prem- 
ium, write  down  beside  it,  in  good  bold  figures,  the  ulti- 
mate returns.  Make  the  point  more  impressive  by  re- 
peating it  again  on  paper  in  the  form  of  a  percentage. 

Now  let  us  return  to  the  sections  of  our  policy  pre- 
sentation, and  examine  their  component  parts. 

PRINCIPAL  BENEFIT.  This  represents  the  chief 
purpose  of  the  insured.  It  is  covered  by  the  main  pro- 
vision of  the  contract.  It  is  either  indemnity  or  endow- 
ment. Under  any  of  the  various  forms  of  life  policies, 
the  principal  benefit  is  Death  Indemnity  payable  in  a 
specific  sum,  or  as  an  income,  to  a  designated  bene- 
ficiary. Under  the  different  endowment  policies,  the 
principal  benefit  is  the  payment  of  a  certain  amount, 
or  income  to  the  insured. 

SECONDARY  BENEFITS.  This  section  embraces 
any  extraneous  features  that  may  be  attached  to  the 
policy,  such  as  Total  Disability,  Accident  and  Health 
Insurance.    These  are  distinctly  benefits  to  the  insured. 

CONTINGENT  BENEFITS.  These  are  the  Loan 
and  Surrender  Values.  They  may  be  likened  to  the 
life-boats  on  board  a  ship.  One  enjoys  a  comfortable 
knowledge  of  their  presence  against  emergency,  but 
docs  not  care  to  indulge  in  lengthy  contemplation  of 
their  purpose. 

KIND,  COST  AND  RETURNS.  Here  we  group 
the  technical  description  of  the  Policy,  the  Premium, 
Dividends  and  Options  of  Settlement. 

32 


To  illustrate:  Twenty-Payment  Life,  Participating, 
$10,000.  Premium  $378.  Twentieth  year  $10,000  Paid- 
up  Policy,  or  $6,660  in  cash.  Dividends  from  10  to  45 
per  cent,  averaging  25  per  cent. 

You  amplify  this  bald  statement  by  showing  your 
prospect  that,  at  age  55,  he  may  secure  paid-up  insur- 
ance to  the  amount  of  $1.80  for  every  dollar  he  has 
deposited  with  the  company.  Or,  he  may  take  a  cash 
settlement,  in  which  case,  after  having  enjoyed  twenty 
years*  protection,  he  will  receive  considerably  more 
than  the  aggregate  of  his  net  payments  to  the  company. 

Now  let  me  draw  your  attention  to  the  variations  in 
importance  of  the  several  sections.  When  you  are  sell- 
ing an  Income  Policy,  Section  Number  Four  is  of  the 
least  consequence;  when  you  are  selling  a  Life  Policy 
it  is  a  secondary  consideration;  when  you  are  selling 
an  Endowment  it  is  the  matter  of  chief  concern.  If 
you  are  talking  to  a  man  whose  salary  is  dependent  on 
his  continuous  service,  or  to  a  professional  man,  whose 
income  is  contingent  on  his  activity,  you  should  expatiate 
upon  the  valuable  safeguards  provided  by  Number  Two. 
If  your  prospect  is  considering  a  Monthly  Income 
Policy,  dwell  upon  Number  One, — the  primary  purpose 
and  the  perfect  provision  made  for  its  attainment.  In 
a  case  of  Business  Insurance,  Number  Three,  in  so  far 
as  it  relates  to  the  value  of  the  policy  as  collateral  se- 
curity and  the  creation  of  a  sinking  fund,  will  loom 
large  in  your  canvass.  I  must  leave  you  to  think  out 
for  yourselves  other  applications  of  the  principle  which 
I  have  been  trying  to  explain  to  you.  I  will  suggest 
that  you  take  for  your  subjects  in  this  practice,  pros- 
pects whom  you  already  have  in  hand.  In  time, — and 
before  long,  you  will  approach  each  prospect  with  a 
definite  idea  of  the  particular  kind  of  Canvass  which 
you  are  going  to  bring  to  bear  upon  him.  Your  final 
decision  in  this  matter  will  be  controlled  by  the  Motive 
to  which  you  purpose  appealing. 

Allow  me  to  pause  for  a  few  moments  to  interject  a 
caution.  Don't  become  mentally  muscle-bound.  These 
instructions  are  worth  less  than  nothing  unless  they 
can  be  reduced  to  the  most  effective  practice.     I  am 

33 


going  to  state  the  principal  motives  which  influence 
men  to  take  insurance.  I  am  going  to  urge  you  to 
look  for  the  dominant  motive  in  your  Prospect.  But 
don't  forget  that  all  this  is  merely  the  means  to  secur- 
ing applications.  Don't  let  science  blind  you  to  sense. 
If  you  can  close  a  man  who  has  no  apparent  motive 
or  reason  for  taking  insurance,  let  the  system  go. 
Close  him,  and  satisfy  your  curiosity  after  you  have 
delivered  the  policy. 

I  remember  a  remarkably  glib  book  salesman  hap- 
pening along  with  a  publication  which  I  had  determined 
to  buy  on  the  first  opportunity.  He  had  hardly  started 
his  Canvass  when  I  agreed  to  purchase  the  work.  This 
evidently  disappointed  him.  Instead  of  producing  the 
order  blank  he  resumed  his  talk.  I  insisted  on  clos- 
ing the  transaction.  He  complied,  of  course,  but  he 
was  clearly  aggrieved.  We  were  not  acting  according 
to  Hoyle.  I  ought  to  have  allowed  him  to  show  me 
the  various  features  of  the  work  and  to  make  his  verbal 
presentation  of  its  merits.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
only  escaped  spoiling  the  sale,  because  I  was  strongly 
desirous  of  possessing  the  book. 

Let  me  impress  upon  you,  then,  that  you  are  learn- 
ing and  will  practice  the  science  of  salesmanship  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  securing  business.  It  is  valuable 
to  you  in  so  far  as  it  may  be  made  to  serve  that  pur- 
pose and  no  more.  As  an  abstract  study  it  is  not  worth 
the  price  of  a  bag  of  peanuts  to  you.  It  will  make 
your  work  more  interesting,  but  see  to  it  that  your 
interest  is  not  centered  in  the  theory  but  in  the  appli- 
cation of  it. 

You  will  find  that  the  principal  motives  that  prompt 
men  to  take  insurance  may  be  grouped  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads. 

1.  Love  of  Kin.  2.  Desire  for  Gain.  3.  Prudence. 
4.     Desire  for  Utility.     5.     Satisfaction  of  Pride. 

Seldom  is  a  man  moved  by  one  of  these  influences 
solely,  but  in  the  majority  of  instances,  one  of  them 
predominates  over  all  other  considerations  for  his 
action.  Now,  the  usual  set  Canvass,  with  its  uniform 
policy  presentation,  is  an  appeal  to  all  these  motives 

34 


in  general,  and  none  in  particular.  It  is  spreading  the 
jam  too  thinly  to  create  a  taste.  In  most  cases  pre- 
liminary inquiry,  or  tactful  questioning  of  the  Pros- 
pect, will  direct  you  to  the  Motive,  which  is  most  likely 
to  actuate  him.  You  must  concentrate  on  this,  advanc- 
ing such  arguments  and  presenting  such  features  of  the 
policy  as  are  calculated  to  stimulate  the  motive  in  ques- 
tion. 

Let  us  review  our  classification.  You  are  working 
on  a  man  who  cherishes  his  family  above  all  things. 
You  oflFer  a  Monthly  Income  Policy  and  dwell  upon 
the  completeness  and  security  of  its  protection.  You 
are  appealing  to  his  Love  of  Kin,  but  you  should  not 
make  the  same  canvass  in  the  case  of  a  man  whose 
chief  characteristic  is  selfishness,  or  Desire  for  Gain. 
You  would  present  some  endowment  form  to  him,  ex- 
patiating on  the  prospective  benefits  to  himself,  and 
hardly  mentioning  Death  Indemnity.  Your  prospect 
is  a  provident  man  and  habitually  foresighted.  You 
would  appeal  to  his  Prudence  by  emphasizing  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  policy  as  a  medium  of  saving.  The  De- 
sire for  Utility  is  a  frequent  Motive  in  Commercial 
Insurance.  It  leads  a  man  to  take  insurance  for  the 
security  of  creditors  and  the  benefit  of  executors.  It 
induces  a  speculator  and  frequent  borrower  to  carry 
policies  for  their  collateral  value.  When  Desire  for 
Utility  is  the  Motive,  Section  Number  Three  of  your 
policy  presentation  comes  into  play.  You  enlarge  up- 
on the  Loan  value;  you  draw  attention  to  the  effect 
of  insurance  in  the  enhancement  of  credit;  you  point 
out  the  maximum  rate  of  interest  on  loans  and  com- 
pare it  with  the  rates  usually  current  in  periods  of 
monetary  stringency. 

It  is  astonishing  how  often  Satisfaction  of  Pride  is 
the  prevailing  Motive.  Many  large  applications  are  se- 
cured by  an  appeal  to  it.  We  all  know  the  influence 
of  a  list  of  prominent  policy-holders,  or  the  effect  upon 
his  neighbor  of  a  man  taking  out  a  policy. 


35 


CHAPTER  V. 
PREPARING  THE  CANVASS. 

Only  the  haphazard  salesman  jumps  the  track,  or 
gets  stalled.  The  man  who  has  a  definite  plan  and  a 
prearranged  canvass  may  be  opposed,  contradicted,  in- 
terrupted and  otherwise  interfered  with,  but  he  will 
stick  to  the  line  and  keep  moving  toward  the  terminus. 

In  his  progress  it  is  necessary  to  take  the  Prospect 
with  him.  This  can  be  done  only  by  inducing  the  Pros- 
pect to  think  certain  thoughts  which  shall  carry  him 
through  the  stages  of  Desire,  Willingness  and  Resolve. 

If  the  attempt  to  create  this  course  of  reflection  is 
based  upon  general  arguments  and  stereotyped  state- 
ments, some  of  the  agent's  suggestions  are  apt  to  be 
weak,  if  not  positive  misfits. 

A  Canvass  based  on  a  pre-acquired  knowledge  of  the 
Prospect's  condition,  and  designed  to  stimulate  a  cer- 
tain Motive  will  bring  forth  a  Policy  Presentation  and 
arguments  logically  applicable  to  the  particular  case. 
Such  a  Canvass  has  the  double  effect  of  Impressing  the 
prospect  and  Inspiring  the  agent  with  Confidence. 

This  is  scientific  salesmanship — the  application  of 
commonsense  principles  to  the  task  in  hand.  The 
agent  who  employs  such  methods  will  sell  more  Life 
Insurance  than  another  of  greater  natural  ability,  who 
makes  his  Canvass  in  a  haphazard  manner. 

Let  us  assume  that  you  have  a  prospect  upon  whom 
you  purpose  calling,  or  with  whom  you  have  already 
an  appointment.  You  are  in  possession  of  as  much  in- 
formation about  him  as  you  can  secure.  (Don't  treat 
anything  relative  to  your  Prospect  as  unimportant. 
The  fact  that  he  plays  the  flute  may  be  turned  to  ac- 
count in  your  canvass.) 

You  set  about  preparing  a  definite  Canvass  for  this 
particular  Prospect,  beginning  by  jotting  down  your 
data,  somewhat  in  the  following  form: 

Prospect,  John  Doe. 

36 


Superintendent  Cole  Auto  Co.,  Salary  $4,500. 

Born  Dec.  16,  1871.     Age  42.     Change  June  16. 

Widower.  Two  children.  Son  20  years,  self-sup- 
porting.    Daughter  18  years,  at  private  academy. 

Carries  $12,000  Life  and  $10,000  Accident  Insurance. 
Lives  carefully;  said  to  be  saving  about  $1,500  a  year. 
Dotes  on  daughter  and  proud  of  son.  Member  of 
Jonathan  and  Country  Clubs.  Hobbies  botany  and 
local  history.  Close  friend  of  Richard  Roe,  who  car- 
ried $25,000  with  our  Company. 

Your  next  step  is  to  consider  that  data  carefully  and 
to  decide  on  the  form  of  policy  best  adapted  to  a  man 
in  these  circumstances. 

Our  illustration  involves  an  obvious  case.  Our  man 
has  enough  insurance  to  settle  his  affairs  at  death  and 
to  leave  a  few  thousand  dollars  to  each  of  his  children. 
His  son  will  be  able  to  take  care  of  himself — but  there 
is  not  adequate  provision  for  the  daughter. 

The  Monthly  Income  Policy  is  clearly  indicated.  As 
to  form  and  amount,  a  man  who  is  saving  $1,500  a  year 
can  well  afford  six  units — that  is  to  say,  $60  a  month — 
on  the  Twenty  Payment  Life  Plan. 

Your  next  move  is  the  preparation  of  your  Policv 
Presentation  which  you  will  map  out  in  the  following 
manner: 


Section  1 

Section  2 

Section  3 

Section  4 

Principal 

Secondary 

Contingent 

Kind,  Cost, 

Benefit. 

Benefits. 

Benefits. 

Etc. 

Life 

Total 

Loan    Values 

20-Pay  Mo. 

Income  to 

Permanent 

3rd  yr...$  522 

Inc. 

Daughter 

Disability 

5th     "  ..   1092 

$14,400 

$60  a 

10th   "  ..  2688 

$60  Monthly 

Month. 

15th   "  ..  4547 

Premium 

20th   "  ..  6804 

$463.80. 

From    40%    to 

about  75%. 

Note.  We  are  using  a  Non-participating  Premium  in 
this  case. 

Now  you  proceed  to  jot  down  the  heads  of  your 
arguments,  having  decided  that  you  are  going  to  make 

37 


your  Canvass  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  on  the  perfect 
protection  and  the  low  cost  as  compared  with  the  bene- 
fit. Your  memoranda  will  assume  something  of  the 
following  form. 

Protection  perfect.  Daughter  absolutely  assured  of 
income  for  life.  Contract  creates  trust  in  hands  of  one 
of  the  strongest  financial  institutions  in  the  country. 
Income  cannot  be  sold,  hypothecated,  nor  misappropri- 
ated in  any  way. 

To  secure  same  protection  otherwise,  would  be  neces- 
sary to  bequeath  sum  of  $18,000  assuming  4%  might  be 
earned  on  it  continuously.  Executors  may  die,  fail  in 
judgment,  or  prove  derelict.  In  any  case  they  must 
make  charge  for  their  services. 

Beneficiary's  present  expectation  of  life  44  years. 
After  Prospect  has  exhausted  his  expectation  she  will 
still  have  25  years,  but  annuitants  are  notably  more 
than  ordinarily  long-lived. 

In  consideration  of  Prospect  paying  $463  a  year  for 
maximum  period  of  20  years — he  may  make  but  one 
payment, — Company  undertakes  to  pay  his  beneficiary 
$720  a  year  for  minimum  period  of  20  years  and  as 
much  longer  as  she  lives,  which  may  be  60  years  or 
more.  To  repeat.  Prospect  pays  trifle  more  than  3% 
of  $14,000  for  20  years  at  utmost.  Company  pays  5% 
of  same  amount  for  20  years  at  least. 

Now  write  out  your  canvass,  adding  any  special  argu- 
ments that  may  occur  to  you.  Memorize  it,  but  do  not 
attempt  to  learn  it  by  rote.  Put  it  aside  for  future  use. 
Make  memoranda  on  the  back  of  a  card  of  the  princi- 
pal figures,  if  necessary.  It  is  better  to  talk  entirely 
from  memory  and  this  you  will  be  able  to  do  with  a 
little  practice. 

Each  of  the  first  Canvasses  prepared  in  this  manner 
may  occupy  two  or  three  hours'  time.  When  you  have 
been  through  the  process  a  dozen  times  you  will  be 
in  possession  of  the  skeleton  frameworks  for  all  the 
usual  policy  forms  and  will  have  acquired  facility  in 
modifying  them  to  fit  individual  cases. 

You  should  not  begrudge  the  time  and  trouble  spent 
in  this  direction.     With  such  a  Canvass,  you  may  rea- 

38 


sonably  expect  to  close  one  in  every  three  men  upon 
whom  you  make  the  attempt.  Your  present  average 
is  probably  one  in  every  fifteen  or  twenty.  It  is  much 
less  laborious  and  much  more  effective  to  do  your 
work  thoroughly  and  properly  than  it  is  to  do  it  super- 
ficially and  in  slovenly  fashion. 

The  assembled  memoranda  consist  of  data  relating 
to  your  Prospect,  the  salient  points  of  the  Policy  you 
decide  to  be  best  adapted  to  his  requirements,  and  a 
brief  summary  of  arguments  to  support  your  proposi- 
tion. 

The  preparatory  Canvass  constructed  from  this  ma- 
terial should  be  as  brief  and  clear  as  you  can  make  it, 
consistent  with  comprehensive  statement.  Bear  in 
mind  that  verbosity  is  not  the  object,  but  clarity  and 
logic. 

In  composing  this  Canvass,  have  in  mind  the  three 
stages  of  mental  evolution,  which  you  must  induce  in 
your  prospect, — Desire,  Willingness  and  Resolve.  This 
consideration  will  lead  to  dividing  your  Canvass  into 
three  sections.  These  will  be  (1)  the  Presentation  of 
the  Benefits;  (2)  a  Statement  of  the  Comparatively 
Low  Cost;  and  (3)  a  Strong  Closing  Argument. 

The  Motive  to  be  stimulated  in  this  case  is  evidently 
Love  of  Kin.  You  will  play  upon  it  throughout  your 
Canvass  avoiding  any  suggestion  that  might  divert 
your  Prospect's  thought  from  that  Motive,  and,  there- 
fore, ignoring  Sections  2  and  3  of  the  policy  subdi- 
visions. 

When  you  have  completed  it,  after  three  or  four 
drafts,  if  necessary,  your  Canvass  should  be  somewhat 
like  the  following. 

"Mr.  Doe,  I  am  taking  it  for  granted  that  your  son 
will  fulfill  his  early  promise  of  success  in  business,  and 
that  he  will  be  able  to  take  care  of  himself  in  the 
future.  The  proposition  I  have  prepared  for  you  re- 
lates exclusively  to  your  daughter.  I  am  going  to  show 
you  a  safe  and  economical  method  of  providing  her 
with  an  income  of  sixty  dollars  a  month  from  the  time 
of  your  death  to  the  time  of  her  death. 

"The  kind  of  policy  I  have  in  mind  affords  the  MOST 

39 


PERFECT  PROTECTION  POSSIBLE  and  for  that 
reason  a  greater  number  of  business  men  are  now-a- 
days  insuring  under  this  form  than  under  all  the  other 
forms  of  insurance  combined.  A  Monthly  Income 
Policy  renders  assurance  doubly  sure  by  guaranteeing 
that  the  provision  which  you  make  for  your  daughter 
will  be  effective,  NOT  ONLY  IMMEDIATELY  AF- 
TER YOUR  DEATH,  BUT  AS  LONG  AS  SHE 
LIVES. 

"You  may,  like  many  another  man,  have  felt  some 
uneasiness  as  to  the  ultimate  disposition  of  the  money 
which  you  intend  to  Teave.  We  all  know  that  women 
are  commonly  careless  in  money  matters.  They  must 
depend  upon  the  advice  of  others  in  making  invest- 
ments. Their  inexperience  renders  them  peculiarly  lia- 
ble to  mistakes,  with  consequent  loss.  It  is  quite  likely 
that  some  such  considerations  have  caused  you  concern 
for  the  welfare  of  your  daughter,  after  she  shall  have 
lost  the  benefit  of  your  care  and  advice. 

"The  form  of  insurance  of  which  I  am  speaking  re- 
moves all  such  anxiety.  The  death  claim  is  paid  as  an 
income  throughout  the  life  of  the  beneficiary.  TFIE 
CONTRACT  CREATES  AN  ABSOLUTE  TRUST  in 
the  hands  of  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  conserva- 
tive institutions  in  the  country.  The  income  cannot  be 
lost,  sold,  encumbered,  or  disposed  of  in  any  but  the 
manner  agreed  upon  between  you  and  the  Company. 
The  money  you  design  for  the  support  of  your  daugh- 
ter cannot  possibly  be  diverted  from  its  purpose.  The 
necessity  of  investment  and  the  risk  of  loss  are  entirely 
obviated.  In  short,  you  are  enabled,  through  the  med- 
ium of  a  policy  of  this  kind,  to  carry  the  care  which 
you  exercise  for  your  daughter  during  your  lifetime, 
beyond  your  death  and  to  extend  it  through  her  life- 
time. 

"It  is  safe  to  say  that  you  could  not  accomplish  the 
same  object  in  any  other  way,  except  at  considerably 
greater  expense.  Suppose  that  you  should  provide  an 
income  of  $60  a  month  or  $720  a  year,  by  a  four  per 
cent  yield  from  $18,000.  This  is  a  sum  nearly  twice  as 
great  as  my  company  requires,  even  though  you  live  to 

40 


completely  pay  up  your  policy.  Besides  are  you  sure 
that  the  $18,000  investment  is  going  to  remain  intact 
and  without  depreciation?  Executors  may  die,  fail  in 
judgment,  or  prove  derelict.  Even  a  husband  is  not 
always  the  best  curator  of  his  wife's  property.  Then, 
what  institution  will  guarantee  four  per  cent  for  an 
indefinite  term  of  years?  Your  daughter's  present  ex- 
pectation of  life  is  forty-four  years,  and  even  after  you 
have  exhausted  your  expectation,  the  tables  give  her 
twenty-five  years. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact  Mr.  Doe,  YOU  CAN'T  DO  IT. 
If  you  attempt  to  provide  for  your  daughter  with  a  safe 
and  fixed  life  income,  independently  of  a  life  insurance 
company,  it  will  cost  you  considerably  more  than  twice 
as  much  as  by  the  means  I  am  urging  upon  you. 

*'Now  let  us  see  what  my  Company  has  to  offer  you. 
We  will  give  you  a  policy  of  $14,400  on  the  Monthly 
Income  plan  at  a  cost  of  $463.80  annually  for  twenty 
years,  when  it  will  be  paid  up.  The  contract  guarantees 
the  payment  to  your  daughter  of  $60  at  your  death  and 
a  like  amount  every  month  thereafter  AS  LONG  AS 
SHE  LIVES.  Should  she  die  before  receiving  240  in- 
stalments, the  balance,  or  their  lump  sum  equivalent, 
will  be  paid  to  her  heirs.  In  any  event  the  face  amount 
of  the  policy  will  be  disbursed." 

"Let  me  put  the  proposition  in  another  way.  In  con- 
sideration of  your  paying  to  the  Company  $463,  for  a 
MAXIMUM  PERIOD  OF  TWENTY  YEARS,  (you 
may,  of  course,  pay  no  more  than  one  premium),  the 
Company  agrees  to  pay  to  your  beneficiary  $720  a  year 
for  a  MINIMUM  PERIOD  OF  TWENTY  YEARS 
and  as  much  longer  as  she  may  live." 

"Or,  suppose  that  we  look  at  it  in  another  light.  You 
pay  to  the  company  a  trifle  more  than  three  per  cent 
of  $14,400  for  TWENTY  YEARS  AT  THE  MOST,  and 
the  Company  pays  to  your  beneficiary  five  per  cent  of 
the  same  sum  for  NOT  LESS  THAN  TWENTY 
YEARS  and  possibly  for  fifty. 

(Here  you  start  to  close.) 

"It  is  a  splendid  investment  any  way  you  look  at  it,, 
but  that  is  of  less  account  than  the  ABSOLUTE  CER- 

41 


TAINTY  OF  THE  PROVISION  for  your  little  girl, 
whose  welfare  is  of  more  concern  to  you  than  anything 
in  life. 

"Mr.  Doe,  if  our  strongest  trust  company  should  say 
to  you:  'What  will  you  pay  us  to  assure  your  daughter 
of  a  comfortable  income  during  her  lifetime, — of  a  suffi- 
cient sum,  paid  regularly  and  certainly,  to  guard  her 
against  any  possibility  of  need  or  discomfort?'  You 
would  reply,  'Almost  anything.  The  price  could  hardly 
be  too  great.' 

"But  that  is  precisely  what  our  Company,  which  is 
stronger  than  our  strongest  trust  company,  does  offer 
to  do  for  you,  and  it  undertakes  to  guarantee  this  great 
benefit  at  a  cost  of  not  more  than  $463  a  year.  When 
you  have  made  the  first  payment  you  will  be  assured  that 
should  you  be  cut  off  the  day  after,  or  the  next  week, 
your  child's  material  welfare  will  be  placed  beyond  the 
range  of  doubt  or  misfortune.  You  can  enjoy  the  com- 
fortable assurance  that  as  long  as  she  may  live  she  will 
receive  a  monthly  reminder  of  her  father's  forethought 
and  care  for  her. 

"There  is  only  one  other  proviso, — that  you  shall  pass 
a  satisfactory  medical  examination.  I  don't  doubt 
that  3^ou  can  do  so.  At  any  rate  we  may  settle  that 
question  within  the  hour.  With  your  permission  I 
will  telephone  to  our  examiner  as  soon  as  we  have 
filled  out  your  application." 

You  will  notice  that  several  features  of  the  policy 
have  not  been  mentioned,  but  enough  has  been  said  to 
sell  it  in  the  majority  of  cases.  Let  the  prospect  raise 
other  points  if  he  desires.  I  have  taken  many  applica- 
tions for  this  kind  of  insurance  without  reference  to 
the  minimum  payments  guaranteed,  until  the  delivery 
of  the  policy,  and  then  pleased  the  purchaser  by  show- 
ing him  that  he  had  bought  more  than  he  realized. 

The  arrangement  of  this  Canvass  is  designed  to  pro- 
mote particular  purposes  which  will  be  pointed  out  in 
the  discussion  of  closing. 

We  must  assume  that  you  will  formulate  well  de- 
fined Policy  Presentations  for  at  least  the  standard 
forms  of  contract.     You  will  rehearse  these  until  the 

42 


various  features  automatically  group  themselves  in 
their  appropriate  sections.  You  will  study  these  sec- 
tions z^nd  their  composite  parts,  so  that  you  can  readily 
decide  which  of  them  will  bear  with  greatest  force  on 
certain  persons,  and  which  are  best  calculated  to 
stimulate  certain  Motives. 

Now,  as  you  acquire  the  degree  of  facility  in  ques- 
tion with  regard  to  three  or  four  policy  forms,  you 
come  into  possession  of  the  skeletons,  or  frameworks 
of  as  many  Canvasses.  You  will  build  about  these 
foundations  general  and  specific  arguments,  For  in- 
stance, your  presentation  of  Section  No.  1  must  be 
supported  by  a  strong  statement  of  the  duty  of  pro- 
viding for  dependents,  or  the  value  of  provision  for 
the  future.  You  should  gather  from  an  accident  sales- 
man some  of  his  strongest  points  for  use  in  connection 
with  your  Section  No.  2,  and  so  on. 

In  order  to  keep  your  Canvass  fresh  and  lively  you 
must  make  constant  alterations  in  the  clothing  of  your 
skeleton.  The  garments  will  always  be  the  same  in 
their  essential  character,  coat,  vest,  breeches,  and  the 
rest,  but  you  should  possess  plenty  of  material  to 
change  the  aspect  more  or  less.  Vary  the  color  of  the 
cravat,  the  pattern  of  the  shirt,  the  cut  of  the  coat  and 
so  forth. 

Store  up  a  stock  of  arguments.  Make  a  practice  of 
thinking  out  new  ones.  You  will  form  the  habit  of 
carefully  preparing  a  special  Canvass  for  each  prear- 
ranged closing  interview.  When  you  do  so,  you  must 
consider  fresh  arguments  particularly  adapted  to  the 
case  in  hand.  These  should  be  strengthened  by  illus- 
trations drawn  from  the  business  of  your  Prospect. 
You  will  find  it  a  most  effective  practice  to  use  the 
terms  in  which  the  man  is  accustomed  to  speak  and 
think  in  his  everyday  work. 


43 


CHAPTER  VI. 
CLOSING. 

Closing  is  the  most  critical  part  of  the  Canvass,  but 
let  me  impress  upon  you  that  every  phase  of  your 
project,  from  the  preparatory  stage  onwards,  is  highly 
important  and  has  its  influence  upon  your  final  effort. 
Whether  you  Close  or  fail  to  Close,  will  depend  on 
your  Efficiency,  or  lack  of  it,  in  the  consecutive  steps 
leading  up  to  the  application  form. 

Now,  let  us  assume  that  you  are  about  to  open  a 
Canvass.  An  interview  has  been  afforded  you  for  the 
specific  purpose  of  talking  insurance.  This  interview 
is  yours.  You  have  a  right  to  control  its  course,  and 
unless  you  do  so,  a  successful  result  is  improbable. 
You  start  with  a  definite  goal  in  sight  and  with  a 
definite  path  leading  to  it.  You  and  your  prospect  must 
travel  this  road  together.  It  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  you  keep  him  to  it.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
you  should  not  give  him  ample  opportunity  to  talk  to 
the  point.  What  I  mean  is  that  you  must  not  allow 
him  to  make  excursions  into  the  field  of  subjects  for- 
eign to  the  business  in  hand.  If  he  attempts  to  do  so, 
it  is  the  clearest  evidence  that  your  proposition  is  not 
the  most  interesting  matter  before  his  mind  at  the 
moment  and  it  must  be  that  if  you  are  to  secure  his 
application. 

Nothing  will  help  more  in  keeping  control  of  an 
interview  than  having  a  clear-cut  idea  of  the  Motive  to 
which  you  are  appealing,  and  consequently  of  the 
thoughts  that  ought  to  be  running  through  the  Pros- 
pect's mind  whilst  you  are  speaking.  He  must  be  in- 
duced to  mingle  his  interest  with  yours.  You  and 
your  Prospect  must  forget  each  other  and  become 
thoroughly  absorbed  in  the  proposition  under  consid- 
eration. Your  thought  and  his  must  run  along  the 
same  line  and  in  the  same  direction. 

44 


Under  such  conditions  it  will  not  be  difficult  to 
prompt  your  Prospect  by  suggestion,  to  voice  some  of 
the  arguments  which  you  desire  to  advance.  The  most 
masterly  Canvass  is  one  in  which  the  Prospect  is  made 
to  "write  himself",  as  the  saying  is,  and  led  to  believe 
that  he  has  made  his  decision  by  the  independent  ex- 
ercise of  his  judgment. 

You  must  be  prepared  to  put  teeth  into  your  talk 
on  occasion.  You  will  not,  of  course,  be  rude  or  tact- 
less, but  do  not  hesitate  to  express  yourself  strongly 
when  there  are  just  grounds  for  doing  so.  A  great 
deal  of  failure  is  due  to  an  over  desire  to  please,  and  a 
corresponding  fear  of  saying  anything  that  may  in  the 
least  jar  on  the  Prospect's  sensibilities.  Bear  in  mind 
that  you  and  your  Prospect  are  two  business  men 
meeting  on  equal  terms  to  discuss  a  matter  of  import- 
ance to  both  of  you.  You  have  a  perfect  right  to  ex- 
press yourself  freely  and  strongly.  Your  Prospect 
will  undoubtedly  respect  you  for  doing  so. 

Too  many  agents  have  an  idea  that  three  or  four 
interviews  should  be  devoted  to  a  case.  They  work 
on  the  principle  of  securing  a  gradually  cumulative 
effect,  which  is  the  most  difficult  method  of  writing 
insurance.  When  you  have  said  all  that  is  necessary 
about  your  Proposition  and  have  given  your  Prospect 
ample  opportunity  to  say  all  that  he  may  desire,  there 
is  nothing  more  to  be  done  but  to  write  the  applica- 
tion. If  this  essential  talk  on  both  sides  is  accomp- 
lished at  one  interview,  then  the  case  should  be  closed 
without  another.  Whenever  you  open  a  Canvass,  do 
so  with  the  thought  in  mind  of  getting  the  application 
at  that  sitting. 

We  have  likened  the  Canvass  to  a  wedge  with  the 
Approach  at  the  thin  end  and  the  Application  at  the 
butt. 

Your  constant  purpose  throughout  the  interview  is 
to  drive  this  wedge  completely  home.  In  order  to  do 
so  you  must  create  in  your  Prospect's  mind  a  favorable 
attitude  toward  your  proposition, — but  this  is  by  no 
means  enough. 

You  may  excite  Desire  and  still  be  far  from  the  ac- 

45 


complishment  of  your  object.  You  may  develop  Desire 
into  Willingness  and  even  then  you  will  not  have  reach- 
ed the  goal.  Willingness  must  be  capped  by  Resolve. 
Desire,  Willingness  and  Resolve.  These  are  the 
stages  of  mental  evolution  in  a  successful  Canvass. 


You  will  readily  perceive  the  distinction  between 
these  conditions.  A  man  may  desire  to  possess  a  thing 
which  he  is  quite  unwilling  to  purchase.  Or,  he  may  be 
willing  to  buy  and  lack  the  resolution  to  do  so. 

It  requires  no  special  ability  to  bring  a  Prospect  to 
the  stage  of  Willingness.  Carrying  him  forward  to  the 
condition  of  Resolve  is  the  most  difficult  phase  of  the 
Life  Insurance  agent's  work.    It  is  Closing. 

This  is  the  critical  point  of  the  Canvass.  It  is  the 
point  at  which  Efficiency  or  its  absence,  is  most  con- 
spicuous. The  good  Closer  converts  Willingness  into 
Resolve,  when  the  poor  closer  is  satisfied  with  a  prom- 
ise which  is  seldom  fulfilled. 

The  prevailing  Motive  creates  the  Willingness,  and 
the  same  medium  must  be  employed  in  clinching  the 
Resolve.  Expert  salesmen  reserve  one  or  more  of  their 
strongest  arguments  for  this  purpose,  to  be  used  in 
drawing  the  Prospect  across  the  narrow  gap  that  lies 
between  Willingness  and  Resolve. 

Closing  being  the  climax  of  the  Canvass,  it  stands 
to  reason  that  the  eflfect  of  the  effort  to  close  will  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  degree  of  efficiency  which  has 
been  exercised  in  the  preceding  stages  of  the  Canvass. 
It  is  much  less  difficult  to  map  out  a  definite  course 
and  method  to  be  employed  in  the  earlier  stages  than 
it  is  to  give  precise  directions  for  the  Closing.     With- 

46 


out  doubt,  Closing  may  be  justly  described  as  an  art, 
but  there  is  a  great  deal  of  knack  in  it,  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  latter  will  varj^  with  the  individual.  An 
adept  closer  can  tell  you  the  principles  on  which  he 
proceeds,  but  he  can  never  exactly  describe  the  little 
knacks  which  he  uses  as  lubricants  to  facilitate  the  in- 
sertion of  the  thick  end  of  the  wedge.  These  are  ap- 
plications of  psychological  laws  which  he  employs  un- 
consciously, or,  at  least,  without  clear  definition  of 
them  in  his  mind.  They  are  the  outcome  of  experience 
and  observation,  to  which  sources  the  novice  must  re- 
sort for  the  acquisition  of  them. 

Fear  of  Failure  is  the  most  prolific  cause  of  Failure. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  agent  who  enters  upon  a  Clos- 
ing effort  confident  of  Success  has  more  than  half  suc- 
ceeded. Nothing  will  breed  Confidence  more  surely 
than  Preparation.  Consciousness  of  Efficiency  and  a 
thoroughly  prepared  Canvass  must  inspire  you  with  a 
strong  sense  of  superiority  in  the  contest  with  your 
Prospect. 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  men  are  of  the  positive 
type.  The  great  majority  allow  others  to  influence 
most  of  their  decisions.  Few  are  independent  in 
thought.  Seven  in  ten  are  deficient  in  backbone.  In 
the  ultimate  analysis,  most  closes  represent  the  sub- 
mission of  the  weaker. 

In  the  specimen  Canvass  which  has  been  given  to  you, 
Section  One,  the  main  purpose,  was  used  to  excite  De- 
sire. Section  Four,  the  comparatively  low  cost,  we 
employed  to  induce  Willingness.  Then,  in  attempting 
to  close  by  arousing  Resolve,  we  swung  round  to  the 
main  purpose  again.  And  this  will  be  the  course  of 
most  successful  Canvasses. 

You  noticed  that  we  merged  from  one  stage  into  the 
next  without  a  break,  or  abrupt  change  of  direction. 
This  is  an  important  matter.  There  will  be  divergen- 
cies in  every  Canvass.  In  making  them  avoid  sharp 
angles  and  adopt  curves.  The  Prospect's  mind  con- 
forms to  the  latter  without  conscious  effort,  but  the 
former  give  him  a  mental  jolt  and  often  disturb  the 
effect  which  you  have  previously  made. 

47 


When  you  enter  upon  the  closing  stage  of  your  Can- 
vass, choose  your  words  carefully.  Be  cautious,  terse, 
and  deliberate  in  your  utterances.  Avoid  saying  too 
much.  The  Canvass  which  is  completed  in  the  fewest 
words  will  almost  invariably  leave  the  strongest  im- 
pression on  the  Prospect.  Reiteration  and  amplifica- 
tion are  apt  to  weaken  effect.  A  point  is  best  made  in 
a  statement  expressed  in  a  few  well  selected  words, 
and  followed  by  a  pause  to  allow  it  to  sink  in.  Your 
constant  object  is  to  stimulate  your  Prospect's  thought. 
Then  give  him  time  to  think.  The  frequent  pauses  in 
a  strong  Canvass  are  the  most  eloquent  portions  of  it. 

Through  the  earlier  course  of  the  Canvass  you  have 
led  your  prospect  along  until  he  reaches  the  boundary 
of  Willingness.  Then  he  is  confronted  by  the  gap  that 
divides  him  from  Resolve, — ^just  a  three  foot  ditch;  no 
more  than  one  good  stride.  Now  you  get  behind  him 
and  push, — not  suddenly,  but  firmly  and  steadily.  At 
this  point  he  must  not  be  allowed  to  step  back  one  inch. 

Did  you  ever  handle  a  horse  that  was  inclined  to  re- 
fuse? You  didn't  force  him  at  the  jump,  but  just  held 
his  head  to  it.  So  it  is  with  your  Prospect.  If  you  keep 
him,  head  on,  at  the  edge  of  the  ditch  which  divides 
Willingness  and  Resolve,  without  relaxing  your  pres- 
sure, he  is  bound  to  go  over. 

But,  if  your  horse  balks  when  he  ought  to  rise  and 
turns  sharp  round,  you  don't  pull  him  back  to  the  jump 
immediately.  You  let  him  have  his  way  for  the  mo- 
ment and  canter  across  the  field  for  a  few  hundred 
yards,  circling  so  as  to  bring  him  up  to  his  fence  again 
when  he  has  had  time  to  get  over  his  nervousness. 

This  is  the  manner  in  which  you  must  treat  your 
Prospect  if  he  breaks  out  of  hand  when  you  are  making 
a  strong  effort  to  Close.  Abate  your  earnestness, 
slacken  your  pressure,  begin  to  gather  your  papers  to- 
gether, give  him  the  impression  that  you  are  about  to 
abandon  the  effort.  Then,  when  he  is  once  more  at 
ease,  gradually  draw  in  the  bridle,  regain  control  over 
him,  and  try  it  again. 

There  is  a  current  fallacy  that  only  one  favorable 
opportunity  to  Close  will  occur  in  an  interview.     This 

48 


is  responsible  for  much  premature  quitting.  If  you 
have  actually  got  your  prospect  to  the  state  of  Willing- 
ness, he  should  be  closed  before  you  leave  him.  It 
may  take  two  or  three  efforts  to  do  this,  but  each  ef- 
fort, if  well  directed,  will  bring  you  nearer  to  the 
object. 

You  should  be  sure  that  you  have  your  Prospect  in 
the  right  condition  of  mind  before  you  seriously  at- 
tempt to  close  him.  You  may  test  the  matter  by  a 
kind  of  feint,  or  tryout,  but  this  requires  uncommon 
dexterity  to  avoid  a  bad  effect.  You  must  be  pre- 
pared, in  case  your  advance  proves  premature,  to  slip 
back  into  your  Canvass  with  the  promptness  and 
smoothness  of  a  snail  into  its  shell.  Once,  however, 
having  entered  upon  a  serious  closing  effort,  stick  to 
it,  with  the  determination  of  settling  the  matter  at 
that  interview.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  a  more  favorable 
opportunity  will  never  arise. 


49 


CHAPTER  VIL 

STANDARD  FORMS  OF  INSURANCE. 

Most  life  insurance  policies  combine  the  two  ele- 
ments of  protection  and  investment.  It  is  for  each 
applicant  to  decide  which  of  these  is  of  greater  value 
to  him. 

It  is  possible  for  the  insured  to  secure  either  of 
these  features  without  the  other.  He  may  take  a  Pure 
Endowment,  which  has  no  insurance  element;  or  he 
may  obtain  a  contract  affording  protection  solely.  An 
insurance  company  will  undertake  to  pay  a  certain 
sum  in  the  event  of  his  death  during  a  period  of  five, 
ten,  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  but  to  return  nothing  to 
him  should  he  outlive  the  period.  This  is  pure  pro- 
tection and  is  called  Term  Insurance.  It  is  similar  to 
fire  insurance, — a  specific  payment  to  cover  a  specific 
risk,  without  any  contingent  benefit. 

Ordinarily  the  Term  Policy  provides  for  renewal,  or 
extension  over  another  period  on  the  same  conditions, 
except  for  an  increased  premium  to  correspond  with 
the  advanced  age.  The  contract  also  usually  includes 
the  privilege  of  convertinfg  the  Term  PqJicy,  at  any 
time,  to  some  permanent  form  of  insurance.  The  ex- 
ercise of  either  of  these  options  must  involve  a  loss  on 
account  of  the  higher  cost  of  insurance  at  the  later  age 
of  the  insured,  unless  a  change  is  made  to  a  policy  of 
the  same  date  as  the  original  Term  contract,  and  this 
generally  necessitates  the  outlay  of  a  considerable 
amount  of  money  to  cover  the  deficiency  in  back 
premiums. 

Term  insurance  affords  the  greatest  amount  of  pro- 
tection temporarily,  for  a  given  premium  outlay.  This 
is  the  sole  advantage  to  be  urged  in  its  favor.  It  is 
the  lowest  in  cost  and  also  in  serviceable  qualities.  Be- 
yond a  few  years,  say  seven,  it  is  the  most  expensive 
form  of  insurance,  for  the  reason  that  the  gross  pay- 
ments  under   it   represent   net   cost,   whereas,   under   a 

50 


life  or  endowment  policy  the  surrender  value  deducted 
from  the  aggregate  premiums  will"  reduce  the  net  out- 
lay to  less  than  under  the  Term  policy. 

Term  insurance  is  much  in  the  nature  of  a  makeshift. 
The  cases  are  rare  indeed  in  which  it  is  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage of  the  insured  to  take  it.  Occasionally  you 
will  come  in  contact  with  a  man  who  cannot  pay  for 
an  adequate  amount  of  protection  under  a  high  pre- 
mium. You  should  give  him  Term  insurance,  but  keep 
closely  in  touch  with  him  for  the  purpose  of  convert- 
ing his  policy  as  soon  as  possible. 

In  the  majority  of  instances  your  prospect  for  Term 
insurance  will  be  a  business  man  who  desires  to  cover 
some  liability  or  protect  himself  against  some  conting- 
ency, for  a  short  period  of  time.  Provided  that  he  is 
sure  that  he  will  have  no  need  for  the  insurance  be- 
yond seven  years,  let  us  say,  the  Term  policy  may  be 
the  most  economical.  However,  experience  proves 
that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the  end  of  the  calculated 
period  finds  the  holder  of  the  Term  policy  still  in  need 
of  insurance  and  regretful  that  he  did  not  take  it  on  a 
permanent  form.  Furthermore,  the  possessor  of  a 
Term  contract  often  wishes  that  he  had  paid  a  higher 
premium  and  thereby  created  a  collateral  value  in  his 
poiicy. 

LIFE  POLICIES. 

The  essential  advantage  of  the  Ordinary  Life  Policy 
is  that  it  affords  to  the  insured  the  greatest  amount  of 
permanent  protection  for  his  outlay.  At  age  30,  a  man 
may  secure  to  his  beneficiary  practically  any  sum  by 
paying  about  2  per  cent  of  it  throughout  his  lifetime. 
If  he  should  attempt  to  accomplish  the  same  object 
by  saving  a  similar  sum  annually,  it  would  require  the 
compound  operation  of  ordinary  bank  interest  during 
longer  than  thirty  years  with  little  more  than  an  even 
chance  of  his  living  long  enough. 

The  chief  objection  advanced  against  Whole  Life 
insurance  is  the  apparent  necessity  of  continuing  the 
payments  during  lifetime.  This  may  be  obviated  by 
allowing   the   dividends   to   accumulate   with   the    com- 

51 


pany.  Under  this  condition  an  Ordinary  Life  Policy, 
issued  at  agre  30,  should  be  paid  up  at  about  age  65, 
and  in  the  event  of  premium  payments  being  continued 
thereafter,  should  mature  as  an  endowment  between 
the  ages  80  and  85. 

The  Ordinary  Life  Policy  is  attractive  to  the  poor 
man  and  the  rich  man;  to  the  former,  because  it  en- 
ables him  to  carry  an  amount  of  protection  which  he 
could  not  afford  at  a  higher  cost;  to  the  latter,  because 
he  can  turn  his  surplus  money  to  better  account  than 
by  investing  it  with  an  insurance  company.  In  the 
middle  class,  between  these  extremes,  the  Twenty 
Payment  Life  is  the  most  popular  policy.  It  is  free 
from  the  objection  of  continuous  premium  payments 
and  involves  a  moderate  degree  of  investment. 

THE   MONTHLY   INCOME  POLICY. 

Since  its  introduction,  about  twenty  years  ago,  the 
income  policy  in  its  various  forms,  has  steadily  grown 
in  popularity.  It  is  the  most  perfect  form  of  protection 
conceivable,  and,  on  this  ground,  appeals  to  all  classes 
of  men  having  dependents.  Men  of  means  will  fre- 
quently take  large  policies  on  this  form  when  they 
would  not  increase  their  insurance  upon  any  other. 

The  man  of  moderate  income  will  take  a  much  larger 
policy  of  this  kind  than  he  will  one  payable  in  a  lump 
sum.  Thousands  of  salaried  men  go  through  life  with- 
out ever  possessing  $5,000  at  one  time.  It  appears  to 
them  to  be  a  handsome  amount  to  leave  to  their  fam- 
ilies. To  the  same  men,  who  have  been  accustomed 
to  a  monthly  salary  of  $100  or  $150,  an  income  policy 
of  $20  a  month  will  seem  pitifully  small,  but  that  is  a 
liberal  equivalent  of  $5,000.  In  such  cases  the  income 
policy  may  be  sold  in  twice  the  amount  of  ordinary 
insurance  that  could  be  placed. 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  the  Monthly  Income 
policy  have  been  set  forth  in  preceding  chapters. 

THE  ENDOWMENT  POLICY. 

When  presenting  Endowment  insurance  you  are  ap- 
pealing to  the  Motive  of  Gain,  or  Selfishness.     Your 

52 


Canvass  will  consist  of  a  showing  of  the  benefits  that 
will  accrue  to  the  Prospect,  who  is  the  contemplated 
beneficiary,  the  payment  of  a  death  claim  under  the 
contract  being  a  secondary  consideration. 

Every  application  for  insurance  would  be  upon  the 
Endowment  plan,  but  for  the  comparatively  high  cost 
of  this  form.  The  sole  obstruction  to  your  proposition, 
— the  necessity  of  paying  the  premium, — is  greater  in 
this  case  than  in  that  for  a  Life  Policy.  It  is  there- 
fore more  than  ever  to  be  urged  that  when  you  are 
trying  to  sell  an  Endowment,  you  keep  the  cost  out  of 
your  statement  until  you  have  created  the  Desire.  This 
is  not  at  all  difficult.  In  fact,  a  perfectly  logical  and 
lucid  presentation  of  your  proposition  can  be  made 
without  actually  mentioning  the  premium  until  the  close 
of  it. 

You  expatiate  upon  the  value  of  an  Endowment 
policy  as  a  medium  for  saving — the  great  advantage  to 
a  man  in  receiving  say,  $10,000  when  experience  and 
training  have  qualified  him  to  make  good  use  of  the 
money.  You  will  explain  the  Paid-up  Insurance  option, 
using  your  Single  Premium  Table  for  the  purpose, 
although  the  figures  thus  obtained  will  be  somewhat 
too  low.  You  will  impress  upon  him  that,  through  the 
exercise  of  this  option,  he  may  acquire  an  absolute 
estate  of,  say  $25,000,  which  will  cost  nothing  to  main- 
tain, and  which  cannot  be  impaired,  unless  he  chooses 
to  borrow  upon  it.  Not  one  man  in  100,000  is  worth 
$25,000  clear  at  any  time  of  his  life. 

You  will  draw  attention  to  the  Life  Income  option 
which  may  be  the  most  attractive  to  him  twenty  years 
hence.  Your  Annuity  Table  will  give  you  the  income 
that  the  Company  will  pay  on  a  matured  Endowment. 

You  will  go  on  to  show  your  Prospect  that  he  will 
not  tie  his  money  up  beyond  control.  After  paying 
three  premiums  he  can  borrow  70%  of  his  net  payments; 
in  the  tenth  year  about  90%;  in  the  fifteenth  over  100%; 
and  at  the  end  of  the  term  the  Company  will  return 
him  130%  of  all  the  money  he  has  paid  in  premiums,  in 
addition  to  having  given  him  insurance  for  twenty 
years. 

53 


Now  notice  that  you  have  not  yet  stated  the  cost. 
You  may  do  so  at  this  stage,  when  the  Cost  will  appear 
less  formidable  by  reason  of  the  alluring  picture  of  the 
Returns. 

A  man  will  sometimes  hesitate  to  take  Endowment 
Insurance  for  fear  that  he  may  not  be  able  to  keep  it 
up.  This  consideration  should  not  weigh  so  heavily 
in  the  case  of  Endowment  as  in  that  of  some  less 
costly  form  of  policy.  The  former  is  the  easier  to 
maintain  in  the  event  of  monetary  stringency,  because 
of  its  greater  Loan  and  Surrender  Values.  For  ex- 
ample, in  the  tenth  year  of  a  Twenty  Year  Endowment, 
the  holder  may  cease  paying  premiums,  have  his  in- 
surance extended  for  another  ten  years,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  receive  more  money  than  he  has  paid  to 
the  Company. 

The  Endowment  is  distinctly  an  investment,  and  a 
very  good  investment,  at  that.  It  is  a  fair  assumption 
that  the  insurance  element  is  worth  to  the  insured  all 
that  he  pays  for  it.  If  we  deduct  the  Term  premium 
for  the  corresponding  period  from  the  Endowment 
premium,  the  balance  will  show  a  high  rate  of  com- 
pound interest  in  the  returns.  This  is  a  perfectly 
logical  manner  of  presenting  the  matter. 

The  opportunities  for  selling  Monthly  Income  En- 
dowment are  greatly  neglected.  This  is  a  form  of  in- 
vestment insurance,  which,  when  properly  represented, 
is  peculiarly  attractive  to  professional  men,  teachers 
and  certain  classes  of  salaried  employees.  There  are 
in  every  large  city,  thousands  of  persons  to  whom 
this  form  of  insurance  can  be  sold  more  readily  than 
any  other. 

Sufficient  attention  is  not  paid  to  long  term  Endow- 
ments. I  strongly  recommend  you  to  study  the  fea- 
tures of  these  carefully,  comparing  them  with  shorter 
term  Limited  Payment  Life  policies.  The  former  ex- 
hibit the  magic  efifects  of  Compound  Interest,  enabling 
the  company  to  convert  a  small  additional  annual  pay- 
ment into  a  substantially  larger  return  at  the  end  of 
the  period. 

To  illustrate  the  advantageous  use  you  may  make  of 

54 


the  long  term  Endowment:  As  a  rule  it  will  be  found 
easier  to  sell  a  Forty  Year  Endowment  at  a  premium 
of  $300  to  a  man  aged  35,  than  a  Whole  Life  at  a  pre- 
mium of  $279.  In  the  former  case  you  are  offering  a 
policy  with  materially  greater  current  values  and  a 
definite  termination.  To  the  Love  of  Kin  Motive,  you 
are  adding  the  appeal  to  Love  of  Gain. 

Again;  you  have  a  Prospect  aged  25,  to  whom  you 
are  suggesting  a  Twenty  Payment  Life  at  a  cost  of 
$312.  It  is  highly  probable  that  you  could  sell  him  a 
Thirty  Year  Endowment  more  readily  and  with  greater 
satisfaction  to  himself.  For  the  latter  he  will  pay  no 
more  than  $326. 

On  comparison  you  will  see  that  there  is  no  ad- 
vantageous feature  of  the  Twenty  Payment  Life  which 
you  will  fail  to  find  in  the  Endowment.  The  only  ob- 
jection that  your  Prospect  can  raise  is  against  the 
longer  term,  but  that  may  be  easily  disposed  of.  If  he 
should  desire  to  terminate  his  Endowment  in  twenty 
years,  he  may  do  so  on  terms  more  favorable  than 
those  of  the  alternative  proposition. 

You  will  find  it  profitable  to  make  comparative 
analyses  of  these  and  other  policies.  The  practice  will 
promote  a  better  knowledge  of  the  forms  examined 
and  furnish  you  with  many  practical  canvassing  points. 
For  example:  In  the  course  of  such  a  study  you  will 
discover  that  a  man  aged  55  may  secure  a  Twenty 
Year  Endowment  at  a  premium  only  slightly  higher 
than  that  of  a  Whole  Life  Policy.  You  will  generally 
find  that  the  former  is  the  more  attractive  proposition 
to  him. 


55 


CHAPTER  VIIL 
COMMERCIAL   LIFE   INSURANCE. 

The  latter-day  tendency  of  commercial  practice  is  to 
throw  every  available  safeguard  around  business  enter- 
prises. Speculative  elements  are  eliminated  or  reduced 
to  a  minimum.  Conservatism  is  the  prevailing  policy. 
Deferred  liabilities  are  anticipated  by  timely  reserves, 
and  provision  is  made  for  adverse  contingencies. 

It  has  been  found  by  experience  that  all  these  but- 
tresses of  the  business  world  may  be  most  certainly 
and  economically  erected  on  the  foundation  of  insur- 
ance in  various  forms.  Thus  the  conservative  concern 
of  today  protects  itself  with  fire,  burglar,  employer's 
liability,  credit,  indemnity  and,  perhaps,  other  kinds  of 
policies. 

The  primary  purpose  of  any  sort  of  insurance  is  to 
furnish  compensation  for  the  loss  of  a  valuable  asset. 
Strangely  enough,  business  houses  insured  against  the 
less  serious  and  more  reparable  class  of  casualties  for 
long  before  they  awoke  to  the  efficiency  of  life  insur- 
ance as  a  protection  against  what  is  frequently  the 
greatest  mishap  that  may  befall  a  corporation  or  firm. 
In  recent  years,  however,  the  value  of  this  new  factor 
in  business  conservation  has  met  with  such  wide  ap- 
preciation as  to  justify  the  prediction  that  the  day  is 
approaching  when  commercial  life  insurance  will  be  as 
widely  carried  as  commercial  fire  insurance  now  is. 

PURPOSES  OF  BUSINESS  INSURANCE. 

Commercial  insurance  is  both  a  conserving  and  a  de- 
veloping agency.  It  conserves  by  introducing  an  ele- 
ment of  safety  and  reserve.  It  develops  by  affording 
capital  and  credit.  Indirectly,  but  quite  effectively,  it 
embraces  domestic  insurance.  The  preservation  of  the 
business  entails  the  welfare  of  the  employer's  home, 
and  probably  of  the  homes  of  those  who  work  for  him. 

56 


Business  insurance  is  applicable  with  equal  efficiency 
to  the  affairs  of  corporations,  firms  and  individuals. 
In  either  case  it  affords  the  most  economical  and  prac- 
tical means  of  providing  against  unfavorable  develop- 
ments. It  is  a  certain  way  of  forestalling  uncertain 
events. 

The  purposes  which  life  insurance  may  be  made  to 
serve  in  the  conduct  of  business  organizations  are  so 
numerous  and  varied  that  only  a  few  of  the  most  ob- 
vious may  be  mentioned.  Newly  organized  and  young 
companies  are  naturally  those  most  in  need  of  pro- 
tection against  mishaps,  but  many  of  the  largest  and 
most  firmly  established  concerns  in  this  country  carry 
heavy  lines  of  commercial  life  insurance. 

It  is  now  common  practice  among  corporations  to 
insure  the  life  of  an  officer  upon  whom,  by  reason  of 
his  business  talent,  or  technical  knowledge,  the  pros- 
perity of  the  company  largely  depends. 

Or  an  officer,  upon  whom,  on  account  of  his  execu- 
tive ability  or  financial  standing,  the  banking  credit 
of  the  company  rests; 

Or  an  employee,  whose  position  in  the  event  of  his 
death,  it  would  be  unusually  difficult  to  fill. 

It  is  not  infrequently  the  case  that  one  man  is  so 
vital  a  factor  in  the  successful  conduct  of  a  corporation 
that  his  premature  death  would  derange  organiza- 
tion, impair  credit,  decrease  efficiency  of  operation,  mar 
the  company's  prospects,  and  injure  its  standing  with 
the  public.  The  payment  of  a  substantial  cash  in- 
demnity would  minimize  these  conditions  and  put  the 
corporation  in  a  position  to  repair  the  effects  of  the 
loss. 

Endowment  insurance  is  taken  by  corporations  for 
the  purpose  of  creating  sinking  funds  for  the  retire- 
ment of  bonds,  to  meet  the  depreciation  of  plant,  to 
strengthen  the  company  under  changed  conditions  re- 
sulting from  termination  of  patents,  franchises,  leases 
and  various  long  time  contracts. 

Business  insurance  serves  to  protect  minority  stock- 
holders, against  the  premature  death  of  a  man  holding 
a  preponderating  interest  in  the  corporation.     In  close 

57 


corporations  it  is  frequently  employed  to  provide  for 
the  purchase  of  the  stock  of  a  deceased  associate,  and 
so  prevent  its  falling  into  undesirable  hands. 

BUSINESS  INSURANCE—THE  SILENT 
PARTNER. 

Life  insurance  is  even  more  essential  as  a  safeguard 
to  partnerships  than  to  corporations.  Associations  of 
the  former  character  frequently  fail,  or  retire  from 
business  upon  the  death  of  one  member.  This  be- 
cause his  knowledge  or  ability  was  the  mainstay  of  the 
concern;  or  because  his  financial  worth  was  the  basis 
of  its  credit;  or  because  his  estate  demanded  a  cash 
settlement  which  crippled  its  resources. 

In  the  first  case  the  proceeds  of  an  insurance  policy 
would  greatly  lessen  the  difficulty  of  securing  a  satis- 
factory successor;  in  the  second,  it  would  counteract 
the  efifect  of  the  loss  by  enlarging  the  financial  re- 
sources; in  the  third,  it  would  enable  the  liability  to  be 
discharged  without  impairment  to  the  working  capital. 

Business  insurance  is  much  more  necessary  to  the 
small  firm  than  to  the  larger  one.  Many  such  concerns 
are  run  on  the  narrowest  margin  of  capital.  The  slight- 
est shrinkage  of  this  generally  entails  disaster.  The 
records  of  commercial  agencies  show  that  nearly  thirty 
per  cent  of  failures  among  co-partnerships  are  due  to 
death  for  which  no  provision  has  been  made. 

The  credit  of  a  small  firm  is  generally  precarious 
and  often  restricted;  its  capacity  for  expansion  is  lim- 
ited; its  future  prosperity  frequently  depends  upon  a 
continuance  of  uniformly  favorable  corcumstances. 
Under  any  or  all  of  these  conditions,  life  insurance  will 
act  in  mitigation  or  prevention  of  loss. 

BUSINESS  INSURANCE  FOR  THE  INDIVIDUAL. 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  life  insurance  will 
serve  the  business  needs  of  the  individual  more  effect- 
ively than  any  other  agency.  A  few  of  these  only  may 
be  mentioned: 

To    furnish    his   executors   with   ready   cash    for   the 

58 


settlement  of  and  administration  of  his  estate,  and  so 
preclude  the  necessity  of  sacrificing  property  in  a 
forced  market. 

To  provide  the  money  requisite  to  meet  the  inherit- 
ance tax.  A  fund  for  this  purpose,  invested  in  stable 
and  easily  convertible  securities,  would  cost  more  and 
return  less. 

To  cover  mortgages  and  other  indebtedness;  to  pro- 
tect creditors,  endorsers  of  paper,  and  to  protect  finan- 
cial backers  or  parties  to  a  contract.  As  an  anchor  to 
windward  during  a  speculative  investment,  or  doubt- 
ful operation. 

Many  moneyless  men  of  unquestionable  integrity  and 
acknowledged  ability  have  found  that  life  insurance — 
the  safeguard  against  loss  by  untimely  death — 'has  en- 
abled them  to  secure  ample  means  and  credit  for  their 
undertakings. 

POLICIES  FOR  BUSINESS  PURPOSES. 

There  is  no  essential  difference  between  a  policy  of 
business  insurance  and  one  of  the  ordinary  kind.  The 
former  is  usually  written  with  a  firm  or  corporation  as 
the  beneficiary.  Its  premium  is  a  charge  against  the 
concern  and  its  cash  value  an  asset  of  it.  The  policy 
generally  contains  one  or  two  clauses  designed  to  meet 
special  business  requirements. 

Joint  policies  are  commonly  employed  in  commercial 
insurance,  and,  where  the  object  sought  is  mainly  or 
solely  indemnity  for  loss  by  death,  they  fully  serve  the 
purpose  at  considerably  lower  cost  than  would  be  in- 
volved in  separate  contracts. 

The  premium  for  a  Joint  Policy  is  a  compound  of 
that  for  the  elder  life  on  the  regular  form  and  the  term 
rate  on  the  younger  for  a  corresponding  period.  As 
the  reserve  on  term  insurance  is  exceedingly  small  and 
runs  out  with  the  policy,  a  slight  increase  over  the 
values  of  the  regular  form  for  the  elder  of  the  com- 
bined lives  will  approximate  the  precise  values  of  the 
Joint  Policy. 

In  order  to  limit  the  element  of  term  insurance  in 
the  contract  many  companies  restrict  joint  policies  to 

59 


two  lives.  This  need  cause  no  difficulty  when  three  of 
more  risks  are  involved.  Let  us  suppose  that  a  trio 
of  partners  desire  to  be  insured  for  $10,000  each  under 
joint  contracts.  Their  ages  are  50,  47  and  39  respect- 
ively. You  pair  them  in  the  following  combinations: 
50-47;  50-39;  47-39;  and  have  three  policies  of  $5,000 
issued. 

It  will  occasionally  happen  that  a  larger  amount  is 
required  on  one  individual  than  upon  the  others  of  a 
group.  For  example:  a  corporation  wishes  to  insure 
its  president  for  $20,000  and  four  other  officers  for 
$10,000  each.  You  meet  the  requirements  with  three 
joint  policies  of  $10,000  each  on  two  lives  combined  as 
follows:  56-29;  56-37;  50-42. 

SPECIALIZING  IN  COMMERCIAL  LIFE 
INSURANCE. 

So  many  advantages  accrue  to  the  agent  in  working 
business  insurance  that  several  of  the  ablest  writers 
devote  their  attention  almost  exclusively  to  it.  A  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  business  methods  and  finance  is  nec- 
essary to  success  in  the  higher  class  of  cases.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  the  agent  should  learn  what  he  can  of  the 
particular  business  of  the  concern  which  he  intends  to 
approach  with  a  proposition  for  commercial  life  insur- 
ance. 

Small  co-partnerships  present  a  large  and  promising, 
but  almost  virgin  field,  for  this  kind  of  work.  By  far 
the  majority  of  the  firms  operating  on  less  than  $10,- 
000  capital  have  the  most  pronounced  need  of  life  in- 
surance. 

Policies  of  commercial  life  insurance  will  average 
much  higher  in  amount  than  will  those  of  domestic 
insurance.  Settlements  on  the  former  are  usually  more 
readily  secured.  A  logical  suggestion  for  business  in- 
surance will  generally  command  attention  and  interest. 
Far  from  interfering  with  the  writing  of  individual  in- 
surance, business  insurance  will  be  found  to  lead  to  it, 
and  facilitate  it. 


60 


CHAPTER  IX. 
MATERIAL  AID  TO  EFFICIENCY. 

Just  what  and  how  much  printed  matter  an  agent  can 
use  with  advantage  may  only  be  determined  by  his  own 
experience.  Among  successful  life  insurance  salesmen, 
some  carry  a  satchel  full  of  literature,  whilst  others  re- 
strict themselves  to  a  rate  book  and  application  forms. 

Personally  I  favor  the  employment  of  as  little  print- 
ed matter  as  need  be.  A  verbal  statement  affords  op- 
portunity for  the  strongest  possible  impression  and  I 
feel  that  resort  to  corroboration  weakens  my  standing 
with  my  Prospect.  I  must  secure  his  confidence  in  or- 
der to  do  business  with  him,  and  I  prefer  to  assume 
that  I  have  it  sufficiently  to  induce  his  acceptance  of 
any  reasonable  assertion  that  I  may  make. 

Furthermore,  if  you  can  make  your  entire  Canvass 
without  reference  to  any  document  or  memorandum, 
you  create  the  impression  of  being  thoroughly  posted 
in  your  business.  For  this  reason  I  never  use  an  illus- 
tration and  but  seldom  a  rate  book.  If  a  Canvass  is  to 
be  made  on  acquired  data  all  the  details  should  be  mem- 
orized beforehand.  In  other  cases  most  of  the  neces- 
sary information  should  be  carried  in  the  head  at  ready 
command.  Every  bit  of  practical  knowledge  that  is 
available  to  you  should  be  absorbed  and  made  part  of 
your  permanent  equipment.  Policy  forms,  pamphlets, 
useful  articles  in  insurance,  journals,  and  the  rest  should 
be  digested  and  held  ready  for  application. 

It  is  rarely  necessary  to  state  precise  figures  in  a 
Canvass  and  much  more  effective  to  substitute  per- 
centages. You  should  know  approximately  the  pre- 
mium at  any  age  for  any  standard  form  of  insurance 
policy  and  also  the  loan  values.  You  are  offering,  let 
us  say,  a  Twenty  Payment,  Non-par  contract  to  a  man 
35  years  of  age.  It  is  quite  sufficient  to  tell  him  that 
he  will  be  charged  slightly  less  than  3  per  cent  of  the 

61 


face  of  the  policy  and  will  have  loan  values  of  about 
45  per  cent  in  the  3d  year;  55  per  cent  in  the  fifth;  70 
per  cent  in  the  tenth;  80  per  cent  in  the  15th;  and  90 
per  cent  in  the  twentieth. 

The  objections  to  the  use  of  illustrations  are  many. 
They  encourage  careless  preparation  on  the  part  of  the 
agent.  They  generally  repel  a  Prospect  by  their  mas- 
sive presentation  of  bald  figures.  They  afford  good 
excuses  for  avoiding  interviews.  They  give  a  great 
advantage  to  competitors  into  whose  hands  they  may 
fall. 

Economy  of  time  and  labor  are  prompted  by  sim- 
plicity. The  Agent  should  aim  to  simplify  his  process 
and  his  mechanical  aids.  A  policy  register,  prospect 
cards,  a  card  index  and  a  supply  of  the  "Record"  and 
"Detective"  are  all  that  he  can  possibly  need  in  his 
business. 

The  Prospect  Card  should  contain  all  the  data  refer- 
ing  to  the  case  and  a  brief  record  of  each  interview, 
with  its  data  should  be  made  on  it.  The  best  way  of 
handling  these  cards  is  to  keep  them  in  an  Index  com- 
posed of  divisions  for  every  month,  and  each  day  of  the 
month.  Boxes,  containing  such  card  indexes,  may  be 
purchased  from  any  stationer.  When  a  card  is  not  in 
immediate  use  it  should  be  filed  under  the  day  when  it 
is  next  intended  to  call  on  the  Prospect,  or  under  some 
future  month.  This  system  avoids  the  trouble  and  con- 
fusion of  numerous  memoranda.  It  may  be  stated  here 
that  the  next  day's  Prospect  Cards  should  always  be 
looked  over  and  sorted  the  evening  before. 

Many  agents  have  found  the  Record  Card  of  great 
value  to  them.  Perhaps  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  re- 
produce the  words  in  which  it  was  introduced  to  the 
force  of  the  Home  Office  Agency  of  the  Pacific  Mutual. 

HOW  DO  YOU  SPEND  YOUR  TIME? 

How  much  time  did  you  actually  turn  to  account  in 
your  business  last  week?  You  can't  tell.  Yesterday? 
You  don't  know  precisely?  The  fact  is  that  you  are  in 
the  habit  of  spending  your  time  carelessly  and  without 
calculation. 

62 


Do  you  spend  your  money  in  the  same  manner? 
Hardly,  and  yet  time  is  your  working  capital.  Its  value 
is  inestimable. 

Let  us  suppose  that  you  devote  six  hours  daily  to 
canvassing.  This  is  certainly  less  than  you  should,  and 
probably  more  than  you  do. 

It  is  a  safe  surmise  that  one  hour  of  your  short  day 
is  consumed  uselessly.  One  hour  wasted  each  day 
means  a  day  wasted  each  week.  One  day  a  week  will 
run  into  fifty-two  days  a  year.  Two  months  of  twenty- 
six  working  days  wasted  in  a  year. 

Think  of  it — but  stop.  Perhaps  we  are  exaggerating. 
Just  turn  your  mind  back  over  yesterday.  Did  the 
wasted  time  amount  to  one  hour?  Two?  What  about 
the  day  before?  No  better?  Well,  now  ask  yourself 
honestly  whether  in  the  course  of  the  past  month  there 
was  a  single  day  in  which  you  applied  every  minute  of 
six  hours  directly  and  exclusively  to  the  purpose  of 
selling  life  insurance. 

The  truth  is  that  you  fritter  away  at  least  one-sixth 
of  your  time,  and  virtually  curtail  your  income  in  the 
same  proportion.  You  never  realized  it,  but  it  is  a 
fact,  nevertheless. 

When  a  business  man  discovers  a  leakage  in  his  re- 
ceipts or  a  wastage  in  his  material,  he  puts  in  a  cash 
register,  or  establishes  a  system  of  cost  keeping.  It  is 
just  such  a  remedy  that  we  propose  to  supply  to  you. 
We  will  make  it  a  simple  matter  for  you  to  ascertain 
exactly  the  amount  of  time  you  spend  in  your  work 
and  how  you  spend  it. 

Below  you  will  find  a  specimen  record  card.  When 
filled  out  one  of  them  will  give  you  a  pretty  accurate 
account  of  your  expenditure  of  working  capital  for  a 
week.  It  will  not  only  show  outlay  of  time,  but  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  applied.  It  will  enable 
you  to  check  waste  and  detect  misuse. 

On  the  back  of  the  card  is  a  conservative  estimate 
of  a  year's  work  and  results.  The  conclusion  may  look 
over  large  to  some  of  you,  but  the  successive  steps 
leading  to  it  are  within  the  capacity  of  all.  Everyone 
can  secure  one  interview  for  each  hour's  work.     If  so, 

63 


he  can  aggregate  144  in  a  month.  In  the  natural  order 
of  things,  one  half  of  the  persons  approached  should 
afford  an  opportunity  for  opening  the  canvass.  It  is 
surely  not  too  much  to  calculate  on  the  agent's  reduc- 
ing to  prospects  one  in  every  two  men  who  permit  him 
to  present  his  proposition.  That  leaves  him  no  greater 
task  than  to  close  twenty-five  per  cent  of  genuinely  in- 
terested cases. 

There  is  one  difficulty  about  this  program.  It  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  first  sentence:  "Six  working  days  per 
week,  six  interviews  per  day."  Accomplish  that,  and 
the  rest  will  follow  inevitably.  There  is  not  a  man  in 
this  agency  but  may  write  $216,000  a  year,  if  every 
week  of  his  year  embraces  six  working  days,  composed 
of  six  purposeful  hours. 

Try  it.  Try  it  for  one  month — one  week.  Note  the 
result  and  try  it  for  another.  In  a  short  while  your 
trial  effort  will  have  developed  into  a  habit,  and  what 
appears  to  be  an  enormous  undertaking  will  prove  to 
be  an  easy  task. 


64 


RECORD  CARD. 


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66 


DETECTING  WEAKNESS. 

Some  of  the  most  prominent  Life  Insurance  sales- 
men attribute  their  success  mainly  to  one  particular 
faculty — that  of  discovering  the  underlying  lesson  in 
every  important  experience  and  profiting  by  it.  This 
I  believe  to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  habits  that  an 
agent  can  acquire.  It  needs  no  talent  for  its  practice. 
Indeed,  the  man  who  is  genuinely  interested  in  his 
work  cannot  fail  to  exercise  the  perception  and  insight 
which  will  reveal  to  him  the  operations  of  cause  and 
effect  in  his  business  dealings.  It  may  be  taken  for 
granted  that  he  will  turn  such  revelations  to  account 
in  the  improvement  of  his  methods  and  the  increase  of 
his  Efficiency. 

The  beginner  should  habituate  himself  from  the  out- 
set to  review  and  analyze  his  experiences.  After  a  de- 
cisive interview,  go  to  some  quiet  place  and  ask  your- 
self, "Why  did  I  fail?"  or  "What  was  the  chief  cause 
of  my  success?"  Carefully  pass  the  entire  interview  in 
all  its  details  through  your  mind.  To  find  satisfactory 
answers  to  your  questions  will  be  of  immense  advantage 
to  you.  It  may  enable  you  to  detect  a  weakness  or 
eradicate  a  faulty  method  in  its  incipiency.  It  may  af- 
ford you  a  realization  of  some  forceful  argument  or 
effective  process  which  you  employed  by  chance,  and 
might,  otherwise  never  repeat. 

Many  salesmen  unconsciously  continue  the  practice 
of  faults  for  years,  and  many  others  occasionally  use 
successful  tactics  without  definite  appreciation  of  them. 
These  are  the  haphazard  agents  who  accept  their  suc- 
cesses and  their  failures  without  troubling  to  inquire 
into  the  cause  of  them.  The  scientific  salesman,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  constantly  learning  from  his  experiences. 
His  Canvass  is  in  a  state  of  continuous  evolution.  He 
adds  here  and  cuts  out  there.  He  adopts  a  new  argu- 
ment or  modifies  an  old  one.  He  varies  his  method  and 
alters  his  statements.  These  changes  are  suggested  by 
the  effects  and  failures  which  he  observes  in  his  Can- 
vass. His  Prospects  are  constantly  giving  him  points. 
The   mistake   he   makes   with   one,   he   avoids   with   the 

67 


next.     The  tactics  which  prove  successful  in  one  case 
he  learns  to  apply  in  another. 

The  chief  difficulty  with  the  beginner  is  lack  of  judg- 
ment. Want  of  experience  may  prevent  his  proper!}' 
gauging  his  weaknesses  and  estimating  his  strong 
points.  Without  his  realizing  it,  his  approach  may  be 
poor,  his  Canvass  may  be  insufficiently  pointed  at  the 
beginning,  or  too  long  drawn  out;  he  may  attempt  the 
close  too  soon,  or  defer  it  too  long. 

The  intelligent  and  observant  agent  will  discover  these, 
and  similar  defects,  but,  at  best,  the  process  will  be  a 
slow  and  arduous  one.  Anything  calculated  to  shorten 
this  process  and  expedite  Efficiency  must  be  of  practi- 
cal value. 

Now,  I  am  going  to  offer  you  an  aid  for  the  detec- 
tion of  the  weak  and  the  strong  points  of  your  Canvass. 
A  few  trials  will  convince  you  of  its  practical  value  and 
effectiveness  in  strengthening  your  Canvass.  It  is  a 
card  which,  for  lack  of  a  better  name,  we  will  call  the 
"Detective".  It  is  distinct  from  the  "Record  Card" 
which  is  designed  to  enable  you  to  keep  account  of 
your  expenditure  of  time.  "The  Detective"  is  intended 
to  tell  you  what  you  do,  or  fail  to  do,  with  each 
Prospect. 

The  accompanying  specimen  illustrates  the  use  of 
the  "Detective".  It  is  a  day's  record  of  a  hard  worker. 
He  approached  19  prospects,  most  of  them  for  the  first 
time;  where  they  were  second  or  third  interviews,  the 
figures  indicate  the  fact.  He  secured  attention  in  14 
instances,  excited  interest  in  10,  attempted  to  close  3 
times  and  succeeded  once. 

What  inferences  do  we  draw  from  this  Card?  The 
agent's  approach  is  excellent  and  the  first  part  of  his 
Canvass  is  strong.     He  closed  once  in  three  attempts 

68 


and  is  probably  a  good  closer,  but  he  has  a  difficulty 
in  reaching  that  point.  His  Policy  Presentation  must 
be  attractive.  It  is  likely  that  he  arouses  Desire  in 
a  majority  of  cases  where  he  gains  attention,  but  there 
is  some  hitch  in  carrying  the  Prospect  forward  to 
willingness. 

The  card  also  shows  a  marked  unevenness  in  the 
day's  work.  Whereas,  the  agent  "gained  attention" 
nearly  every  time,  and  almost  as  often  "created  inter- 
est" in  the  forenoon,  the  latter  half  of  the  day  included 
a  number  of  failures  in  both  respects. 

The  details  from  the  specimen  are  drawn  from  actual 
experience.  The  agent  in  question  was  a  beginner.  The 
difficulty  indicated  by  the  card  was  traced  to  a  poorly 
arranged,  but  a  strong  Canvass.  He  brought  all  his 
forces  into  action  at  the  first  attack  and,  when  he  had 
created  Desire,  his  fire  died  down.  He  had  no  reserves 
with  which  to  carry  the  remaining  positions. 

In  the  case  which  he  closed  on  a  second  interview  he 
was  obliged  to  modify  his  Canvass.  He  refrained  from 
repeating  the  Policy  Presentation  and,  confirming  him- 
self to  his  arguments,  made  a  strong  Closing  Canvass 
without  realizing  it. 

The  unevenness  of  his  work  was  accounted  for  by 
too  steady  application,  and  easily  remedied  by  a  longer 
noon  rest  and  a  half  hour  break  in  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon. 

There  was  a  little  more  difficulty  in  repairing  the  de- 
fective Canvass.  The  removal  of  some  of  the  effective 
material  from  the  beginning  of  the  Canvass  and  its 
reservation  for  later  use,  had  the  effect  for  a  while  of 
weakening  the  efforts  to  "gain  attention"  and  "create 
interest",  but  these  stages  of  the  Canvass  were  gradu- 
ally strengthened. 

69 


In  a  few  months  this  agent  was  making  a  highly 
efficient  Canvass  and  closing  in  an  unusually  large  per- 
centage of  cases.  But  for  the  record  that  he  kept, — 
which  was  somewhat  similar  to  the  "Detective"  card, — 
he  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  much  longer 
in  discovering  his  weaknesses  and  arriving  at  success. 


70 


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72 


CHAPTER  X. 

GENERAL  SUGGESTIONS. 

The  following  suggestions  if  faithfully  followed,  may 
be  depended  upon  to  greatly  increase  Efficiency.  Mere- 
ly reading  them,  however,  cannot  be  expected  to  pro- 
duce results.  They  must  be  practiced  and  converted 
into  fixed  habits. 

SYSTEMATIC  WORK. 

Your  work  should  be  regulated  by  a  definite  plan  to 
which  you  have  given  exhaustive  thought.  You  should 
dispose  of  your  time  with  economy  and  precision.  Have 
certain  hours  for  actual  canvassing  and  let  nothing 
interfere  with  them.  Dispose  of  office  business  during 
your  noon  break  or  after  five  o'clock. 

Set  a  certain  mark  for  the  year.  Aim  to  secure  some- 
what more  than  the  proportionate  amount  each  month. 
Work  each  day  with  a  weekly  average  in  mind.  Under 
such  a  method  of  sustained  and  definite  effort  any  man 
must  write  at  least  $120,000  in  a  year. 

Bear  in  mind  that  systematic  and  effective  work  will 
not  be  possible  if  your  leisure  hours  are  irregular  and 
misspent.  "A  night  with  the  boys",  entails  at  least  one 
lost  day  in  business.  The  injurious  physical  and  mental 
efforts  that  follow  loose  living  are  ruinous  to  suc- 
cess in  any  serious  line  of  endeavor.  A  life  insurance 
salesman  should  be  a  business  man  first,  a  social 
quantity  next,  and  a  gentleman  all  the  time. 

CASH  WITH  APPLICATION. 

The  large  number  of  unplaced  policies  annually  re- 
ported by  every  company,  reflects  the  uncertainty  that 
besets  cases  in  which  a  settlement  is  not  secured  at 
the  time  of  application.  It  is  of  the  greatest  advantage 
to  the  Agent  to  form  a  habit  of  using  the  binding  re- 
ceipt.    In  by  far  the  majority  of  instances  there  will 

73 


be  no  difficulty  about  the  matter.  I  have  found  it 
effective  to  impress  upon  the  application  form,  with 
a  rubber  stamp,  in  red  ink,  the  following  words:  '*ln 
the  interest  of  the  applicant  the  first  premium  should 
be  remitted  to  the  company  with  the  application." 
When  the  applicant  asks,  "What  does  this  mean?" 
my  reply  is  somewhat  as  follows: 

"If  I  received  your  premium  now,  Mr.  Blank,  your 
insurance  will  go  into  full  force  and  effect  from  the 
moment  your  examination  is  satisfactorily  passed.  Be- 
tween that  date  and  the  issuance  of  the  policy  several 
days  will  elapse.  Even  after  I  receive  it  there  may  be 
considerable  delay  in  its  delivery,  owing  to  your  ab- 
sence from  the  city,  perhaps,  or  to  your  being  too 
busy  to  see  me  at  once.  Now,  suppose  that  you  die  in 
the  meanwhile.  That  is  not  very  likely  Fll  admit,  but 
it  is  less  improbable  that  you  may  become  ill.  In  any 
case,  if  the  company  has  received  your  premium,  the 
insurance  is  just  as  effective  as  though  the  policy  lay 
in  your  safe. 

"On  the  other  hand,  if  you  defer  payment  your  insur- 
ance cannot  become  operative  until  the  delivery  of  the 
policy  to  you  in  good  health.  However,  the  premium 
is  charged  from  the  date  of  issue  and  it  would  seem  to 
be  good  business  to  have  the  benefit  of  all  you  are  pay- 
ing for. 

"That  is  what  the  Company  means  by  stating  that 
*In  the  interest  of  the  applicant  the  first  premium 
should  be  forwarded  with  the  application*." 

PRODUCING  THE  APPLICATION. 

The  best  time  to  get  the  application  before  your 
Prospect  is  the  very  first  opportunity  that  offers,  or 
that  you  can  tactfully  create  for  doing  so. 

I  remember,  when  a  kid,  a  wily  dentist  who  used 
to  allow  me  to  play  with  his  tools  for  five  minutes  be- 
fore proceeding  to  business.  He  would  contrive  to  put 
me  into  the  chair  with  the  tweezers  in  my  hand.  Then 
gently  transferring  the  instrument  to  his  own,  he  did 
the  trick  before  I  had  time  to  get  scared.  Why,  I 
almost  pulled  my  own  tooth. 

74 


Try  the  dentist's  practice  on  your  next  Prospect. 
Spread  your  application  form  out  before  him.  Let 
him  see  it — touch  it — and  assure  himself  that  it  won't 
bite.  When  you  ask  for  his  signature  later,  you  will 
have  less  difficulty  in  getting  it  than  if  you  bring  the 
blank  out  with  the  abruptness  of  a  bad  man  drawing  a 
gun. 

Let  us  take  an  illustration.  At  the  opening  of  your 
Canvass  the  Prospect  says:  "I  may  change  my  occupa- 
tion shortly.  How  about  that?"  "Well,  let  us  see," 
you  reply,  laying  the  application  before  him;  "Just  run 
over  these  warranties.  Nothing  in  them  that  you 
couldn't  sign  to?    That's  all  right  then." 

You  continue  your  Canvass  with  the  great  advantage 
of  having  your  Canvass  before  the  man,  and  he  brought 
it  there. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  one  other  ways  of  ac- 
complishing this  object  naturally  and  logically. 

"What  is  the  date  of  your  birth,  Mr.  Blank?  Thanks. 
I'll  jot  that  down  to  save  time." 

"You  have  a  policy  with  the  Company,  Mr.  Blank? 
What  is  the  number  of  it?  Thank  you.  I'll  record  that 
before  it  escapes  my  memory." 

You  will  find  that  getting  your  application  before 
your  Prospect  early  in  the  Canvass  is  a  great  aid  to 
Closing.  It  will  help  you  to  make  a  trial  close.  In 
case  you  have  been  premature,  it  will  enable  you  to 
retire  without  retreating.  It  will  make  it  easier  for  you 
to  come  back  to  the  close. 

EXTRA  ISSUES. 

When  you  have  been  negotiating  with  a  Prospect  for 
a  certain  amount  and  he  seems  disposed  to  close  at  a 
lower  figure,  don't  press  your  point  too  closely.  Take 
his  application  for  the  smaller  policy  and  get  a  settle- 
ment. 

When  you  turn  your  papers  into  the  office  request 
the  issue  of  an  extra  policy  to  make  up  the  amount 
originally  considered.  In  a  great  majority  of  cases,  you 
will  place  both  contracts.  At  the  time  of  receiving  a 
policy — particularly  if  it  has  already  been  paid  for^ — a 

75 


man  is  frequently  most  receptive  to  the  idea  of  addi- 
tional insurance,  and  in  such  cases  as  we  have  in  mind, 
you  enjoy  the  advantage  of  his  having  seriously  con- 
sidered it. 

MAKE  IT  EASY  FOR  THE  PROSPECT. 

Most  men  have  an  ingrained  dislike  for  figures  and 
find  arithmetical  processes  difficult. 

When  you  tell  your  Prospect  that  his  policy  will,  in 
the  third  year,  have  a  cash  value  of  $719,  you  subject 
him  to  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  calculating  the 
proportion  of  that  amount  to  the  premium  paid,  if  he 
is  to  gain  an  intelligent  conception  of  your  statement. 

You  will  find  that  the  employment  of  percentages  aids 
your  presentation  of  the  proposition.  To  illustrate: 
Policy  $10,000,  premium  $257— about  2^^  per  cent  of 
face  value.  Cash  value,  third  year  ($530)  about  60  per 
cent  of  the  premiums  paid;  10th  year  ($2,010)  about  75 
per  cent  of  the  premiums  paid;  15th  year  ($3,212) 
about  80  per  cent  of  the  premiums  paid.  Final  cash 
settlement  $5,260 — more  than  100  per  cent  of  the  total 
payments. 

Expressed  in  this  manner,  it  is  quite  easy  to  get  ;» 
grasp  of  the  cost  and  returns  of  the  policy. 

THOSE  BAFFLING  PROSPECTS. 

Some  men  have  exceptional  facility  for  creating  in- 
terest in  life  insurance  and  proportional  difficulty  in 
crystallizing  it  into  business.  Such  agents  are  frequently 
snowed  under  with  Prospects,  whilst  they  don't  know 
where  to  look  for  an  immediate  application. 

If  you  find  yourself  in  such  a  predicament,  go  through 
your  cards  and  winnow  out  ten  or  twelve  of  the  most 
likely.  Concentrate  on  those.  Go  after  them  with  the 
determination  to  ''Kill  or  close"  them.  Don't  let  any- 
thing divert  your  attention  from  these  ten  or  a  dozen 
persons.     Stick  to  them  as  a  deerstalker  follows  game. 

CULTIVATE  YOUR  POLICYHOLDERS. 

An  agent  can  hardly  fail  to  find  a  more  prolific  source 
of  new  business  than  the  persons  he  has  already  writ- 

76 


ten.  Each  of  them  shourd^bi'^ajletf  upon  al  least  once 
a  month  and  their  acqii«.in^anpe  pi^tiyat^d  ^y»  alLpossi- 
ble  means.  In  the  migiJQrifY '^f  ^^^^t'a,itc:Vs,  yscur.'P'C)licy- 
holder  will  appreciate  it.  He  will  influence  business 
to  you  and  give  you  additions  on  his  own  life. 

Look  over  your  policy  register.  How  many  names 
of  men  do  you  see  upon  whom  you  have  never  called 
since  you  delivered  their  policies?  In  how  many  cases 
have  you  neglected  to  canvass  their  relatives  and  busi- 
ness associates? 

The  entries  in  the  registers  of  some  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful life  insurance  solicitors  form  links  in  a  continu- 
ous chain.  There  is  hardly  a  policy  but  has  some  con- 
nection with  another.  This  is  the  kind  of  business  that 
pays.  It  represents  the  utmost  production  for  the  ef- 
fort expended.  It  entails  a  steady  increase  year  by 
year  from  the  same  amount  of  labor, — and  even  less — 
because  there  is  a  constant  increment  of  new  business 
from  that  already  done. 

You  will  be  richly  repaid  for  keeping  in  touch  with 
your  policy  holders, — provided  they  have  been  prop- 
erly written  and  honestly  dealt  with. 

DON'T  UNDERESTIMATE  YOUR  MAN. 

Most  of  us  use  defective  yardsticks  in  our  business. 
They  measure  short — and  a  whole  lot  short  at  times. 
Almost  invariably  the  amount  of  insurance  which  we 
propose  to  a  prospect  is  less  than  he  is  capable  of 
carrying,  and  often  considerably  less  than  he  might 
be  induced  to  take. 

What  is  the  result?  Our  inadequate  policy  produces 
the  effect  of  a  pre-prandial  cocktail.  It  increases  an 
appetite  which  is  presently  satisfied  by  some  other 
agent,  to  his  profit  and  our  loss. 

Don't  be  afraid  to  aim  too  high.  It  will  be  much 
easier  to  abate  your  figure  than  to  increase  it.  It  is 
not  in  human  nature  that  a  ten  thousand-dollar  man 
should  be  offended  by  your  estimating  him  at  the 
twenty-thousand-dollar  mark. 

You  may  have  heard  the  story  of  the  railroad  con- 
ductor who,  after  going  through  his  car  in  a  fruitless 

n 


attempt  to  ^et  a.,  twenty -Uollar  note  changed,  finally 
appealed  to  an  old  darkey. 

*'C9.h  .j?(Ai  :split'-,this  for  me.  Uncle?"  he  asked. 

"No,  Boss,"  replied  the  colored  gentleman,  straight- 
ening his  back,  "I  suhtinly  cannot  break  dat  yar  bill, 
but  I  mos'  assiihdly  thanks  yuh  fo*  de  compliment." 


78 


WHAT  PROMINENT  INSURANCE  MEN  THINK 
OF  "EFFICIENCY." 

"It  strikes  me  as  one  of  the  most  helpful  works  of 
the  kind  for  the  live  agent  that  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is 
an  aid  alike  to  the  *man  who  knows'  and  the  fellow  who 
Moesn't  know/  It  is  especially  strong  in  its  treatment 
of  that  all-important  part  of  the  business — salesman- 
ship." 

J.  C.  MATCHITT,  Editor  and  Manager, 

"Northwest  Insurance," 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

"It  is  a  strong  document,  written  along  right  lines 
and  should  be  a  great  selling  help  in  the  hands  of  an 
agency  force." 

MARSTON  &  SMALLEY,  General  Agents, 

New  England  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
"I  am  in  receipt  of  your  most  valuable  booklet,  'Effi- 
ciency,' and  I  am  pleased  to  say  I  have  re-read  the  book 
the  second  time.  I  am  very  much  interested  in  any 
literature  on  insurance,  and  can  truthfully  say  your 
'Efficiency'  has  more  useful  information,  both  for  the 
beginner  and  the  'Old  Field  Man,'  than  anything  I  have 
ever  read." 

IRA   E.   QUIMBY, 
New  York  Life  Insurance  Co., 

Victoria,  B.  C. 
"I  believe  your  booklet  to  be  the  best  publication  of 
its  kind  which  has  come  under  my  observation." 
A.  N.  DES  CHAMPS,  Manager, 

Aetna  Life  Insurance  Co., 

Bridgeport,  Conn. 

"Your  book,  'Efficiency,'  is  the  first  and  only  real 
practical  treatise  on  Life  Insurance  Salesmanship  that 
has  ever  been  brought  to  my  attention.  Brevity  is  an 
essential  element  in  efficiency.  You  have  boiled  down 
what  others  have  required  volumes  to  say." 

R.  M.  MALPAS,  Agency  Manager, 
American  National  Insurance  Co., 
Galveston,  Texas. 

"It  is  my  opinion  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  profit- 
able and  interesting  treatises  ever  published  in  connec- 
tion with  insurance  work.  I  am  certain  that  I  shall  be 
more  efficient  than  I  was  in  the  past  as  a  result  of  a 
careful  study  of  your  valuable  book." 

M.  MESSER,  Manager  Hoboken  District, 
Colonial  Life  Ins.  Co.  of  America, 
Hoboken,  N.  J. 


"The  plans  of  soliciting  which  you  have  outlined 
should  be  of  tremendous  value  to  new  agents  in  analyz- 
ing their  work.  Chapter  I  is  a  new  pen  picture  of  the 
ideal  Life  Insurance  Salesman." 

W.  F.  McCAUGHEY,  General  Agent, 
Northwestern  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

Racine,  Wis. 

"It  is  all  good,  and  any  agent,  young  or  old,  experi- 
enced or  inexperienced,  cannot  fail  to  find  many  helpful 
hints,  and  if  he  will  then  proceed  to  use  his  'self-starter' 
and  do  some  real  thinking  he  should  be  able  to  make 
money  from  your  information." 

CHARLES  M.  IDE,  Special  Agent, 
New  England  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

Boston,  Mass. 

"I  think  your  little  book  is  of  the  greatest  value,  not 
only  to  beginners,  but  to  men  who  have  had  experience 
on  the  'firing  line.* " 

WILLIAM  H.  RYAN,  General  Agent, 
The  Penn  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 
Brooklyn,  N  .Y. 

"I  have  read  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  your  book- 
let 'Efficiency'  and  have  passed  it  around  our  office, 
where  nothing  but  favorable  comments  have  been  made 
upon  it.  It  is  well  gotten  up,  both  from  the  standpoint 
of  arrangement  and  material,  and  I  congratulate  you 
upon  your  success  in  getting  out  such  a  book." 

EDWARD  A.  WOODS,  Manager, 
The  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society, 

Pittsburg,  Pa. 

"I  found  it  very  interesting  and  helpful;  and,  frankly, 
I  found  nothing  to  criticize  therein.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  not  only  intelligently  compiled,  from  the  lay  stand- 
point, but  is  practical  from  the  particular  standpoint  of 
securing  the  application." 

C.  J.  EDWARDS,  Manager, 
The   Equitable   Life   Assurance   Society, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

"I  think  it  is  one  of  the  finest  little  books  I  have  ever 
read  on  insurance." 

GEORGE  M.  SPIEGEL,  General  Agent, 

Pacific  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co., 
Indianapolis,  Ind. 


"The  valuable  little  dynamo,  'Efficiency/  has  been 
received.  I  have  read  your  book  with  interest  and 
much  profit. 

"The  book  is  an  authority  which  drives  a  nail  home 
so  thoroughly  it  sticks.  This  treatise  will  make  a  man 
think,  and  then  it  tersely  and  cleverly  unfolds  sugges- 
tions on  practical  business  methods  that  are  invaluable 
to  the  fellow  who  believes  in  the  survival  of  the  fittest." 

W.  C.  HUTCHINS,  General  Agent, 

Bankers  Life  Company, 
Des  Moines,  la. 

"I  have  before  me  your  favor  of  the  5th  inst.,  and 
your  Company  indeed  did  me  an  honor  when  they  sent 
me  your  booklet  on  'Efficiency.*  I  consider  it  tiptop  in 
every  way,  and  I  do  not  recall  having  mentally  made 
any  notes  which  would  improve  it.  I  think  it  excellent 
just  as  it  is." 

R.  O.  MILES,  General  Agent, 
The  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

"I  believe  that  it  is  the  best  thing  ever  published  for 
life  insurance  salesmanship,  or  any  other  kind  of  sales- 
stuff  covering  generalities,  as  the  expression  goes,  it 
gets  down  to  cases  and  gives  something  definite  that 
the  agent  can  say." 

C.  D.  RODMAN,  General  Agent, 
The  Northwestern  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

Louisville,  Ky. 

"I  will  say  for  this  booklet  that  it  is  without  question 
or  doubt  and  without  exception,  the  best  work  on 
life  insurance  salesmanship,  or  any  other  kind  of  sales- 
manship, that  it  has  ever  been  my  pleasure  to  read." 

ROBERT  M.  GRAY,  Agent, 
First  Nafl.   Life  and  Ace.   Ins.  Co., 
Hankinson,  N.  D. 

"I  have  read  this  little  book  with  great  pleasure,  and 
want  to  assure  you  that  I  have  gained  much  valuable 
information  from  the  same.  I  do  not  know  that  I  could 
offer  any  suggestions  at  all  for  its  improvement,  as  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  have  covered  the  ground  thor- 
oughly." 

E.  G.  SIMMONS,  Vice-President, 
Pan-American  Life  Insurance  Co., 
New  Orleans,  La. 


"We  have  received  the  booklet  entitled  'Efficiency* 
and  wish  to  say  that  we  have  never  seen  anything  which 
looked  to  us  half  as  good." 

PARKER  &  HINKLEY,  General  Agents, 
New  England  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

"I  have  read  the  papers  very  carefully,  and  wish  to 
congratulate  you  most  sincerely  upon  the  exhaustive 
handling  you  have  given  the  subject.  You  write  like  an 
artist.  What  you  say  is  effective  and  beautiful.  All  my 
criticism  may  be  bunched  in  the  one  word,  'splendid.*  ** 

CHARLES  W.  PICKELL,  Manager, 
Massachusetts  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 
Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

"I  want  to  say  that  after  reading  the  booklet  care- 
fully I  unhesitatingly  pronounce  it  as  a  very  valuable 
one,  indeed.  I  am  using  some  parts  of  it  in  the  man- 
agement of  my  own  office,  and  shall  employ  more  of 
the  ideas  it  contains  in  time  to  come." 

A.  F.  SOMMER,  Superintendent, 
Metropolitan  Life  Ins.  Co., 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

"Your  book  seems  to  me  to  be  the  most  direct  trail  to 
successful  and  constructive  life  insurance  salesmanship. 
*  *  *  I  look  upon  chapters  3,  4,  5  and  6  as  the  guid- 
ing stars  to  my  future  success  in  the  selling  of  life 
insurance,  and  take  this  opportunity  to  tell  you  I  am 
deeply  grateful  to  you  and  your  Company  for  sending 
the  book  to  our  office." 

JOHN  J.  O'NEILL, 
The  Penn  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"Permit  me  to  say  that  the  little  booklet  entitled 
'Efficiency*  is  the  very  best  of  its  kind  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  read,  and  is  equally  useful  to  experienced  as 
well  as  inexperienced  life  insurance  men,  since  it  covers 
practically  every  phase  of  the  business." 

J.  J.  TYNDALL,  District  Manager, 
The  Union  Central  Life  Ins.  Co., 
El  Paso,  Texas. 

"I  consider  it  the  very  best  thing  I  have  ever  seen, 
and  all  my  agents  endorse  this  statement." 

J.  W.  DICKSON,  General  Agent, 
The  Pacific  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 
Anderson,  S.  C. 


"I  have  on  hand  for  acknowledgment  your  valuable 
booklet  'Efficiency/  and  have  no  hesitation  in  express- 
ieng  my  enthusiastic  approval  of  the  very  clever  and  in- 
telligent way  you  have  handled  your  subject.  Your  work 
is  an  acquisition  that  should  appeal  strongly  to  all  in- 
surance men,  as  it  is  brimful  with  the  best  insurance 
literature  that  I  have  seen  anywhere  for  the  practical 
purpose  of  training  agents,  therefore  the  good  it  will  do 
is  inconceivable." 

J.  B.  MORRISETTE,  President, 
The  Life  Underwriters*  Assn.  of  Canada, 

Quebec,   Que. 

"I  am  delighted  with  the  little  book  entitled  'Effi- 
ciency.' I  have  found  it  exceedingly  suggestive,  and 
every  now  and  then  in  its  pages  I  find  some  new  view- 
point which  is  exceedingly  helpful.  I  want  to  thank  you 
most  heartily  for  this  work  which  you  have  done  for 
the  field  men." 

H.  EVERETT  FARNHAM,  General  Agent, 

The  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 

Saint  Joseph,  Mo. 

"I  want  you  to  know  how  much  I  enjoyed  'Efficiency.' 
Between  its  covers  can  be  found  in  concrete  form  so 
many  things  tersely  put  that  are  usually  the  subject  of 
voluminous  writing." 

WM.  H.  KINGSLEY,  Second  Vice-Pres., 

The  Penn  Mutual  Life  Ins.  Co., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"It  is  a  splendid  work,  and  I  think  I  have  never  read 
a  book  explaining  in  such  clear,  simple  language  the 
several  subjects  which  it  treats.  *  *  *  There  are 
valuable  suggestions  all  through  the  work  for  the  ex- 
perienced solicitor  as  well  as  the  beginner." 

E.  M.  FRANCE,  General  Agent, 
State  Mutual  Life  Assurance  Co., 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 


N«W    t«ABY 


Ike 

PSYCHOLOGY 
^/A  SALE 


By  FORBES  LINDSAY 


M II  Tkis  Book  treat0  of  tKe  mental 
^J|  processes  involved  in  a  sale.  TKe 
•^  subject  is  Kandlecl  in  a  practical 
manner,  -witt  a  strict  avoidance  cf 
fanciful  tkeory.  The  principal 
divisions  are:  Tke  Inv^ardness  of 
a  Sale;  Association £/*  Ideas:  Atti" 
tude  c/'tte  Salesman;  The  Approach 
The  Mental  Attitude  of  the  Pros- 
pect; The  Canvass;  The  Close  and 
Auto-Suggestion. 

This  hook  is  designed  to  he  a  com- 
panion to  ''EFFICIENCY"  by  the 
same  author. 


PRICE 

Flexible  Leather $1.00 

Stiff  Paper .75 

THE  SPECTATOR  COMPANY 

Sole  Selling  Agents 

Chicago  New  York 


«^ii#   rf^4 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THF.  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL   BE  ASSESSED    FOR    FAILURE  TO    RETURN 
THIS    BOOK   ON    THE   DATE   DUE.    THE   PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY    AND    TO    $1.00    ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 
OVERDUE. 

NOV    8    1934 

i 

SEP  7  %m 

23Sep'57E8 

1 

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REC'D  LD 

1 

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HrK      9  DO   b  Pm 

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308399 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


